Student Academic Conference 2020 Presentations

Modeling of magmatic processes depends on understanding how the activities of melt components vary as a function of temperature, pressure, and composition. For example, we have used a model for the variation in activity of NiO and CoO in silicate melts to constrain magmatic processes on the Moon.However, that model does not consider any possible effect of volatiles such as Cl, S, F, CO, that may have been lost from the magmas during eruption. In the present study, we attempt to place constraints on the effect of Cl in the magma on the activities of NiO by considering the way that Ni diffuses into Pt metal as Cl is lost from the sample during experiments at 1atm pressure. Results suggest that the effect of Cl falls within the limits of the expression below.

Percentage change in the NiO activity coefficient ≤ ±2.3 times wt %Cl.

Thus, the effect of Cl on NiO activity at natural Cl concentrations is sufficiently low as to not greatly impact previous modeling efforts that ignored Cl effects.

Research shows that different ethnicities are at a greater risk of developing diabetes mellitus despite having similar age, sex, and BMI. Diabetes mellitus is a disease condition where blood sugar levels are elevated for prolonged periods because of insufficient insulin secretion or because of insulin resistance. It is well documented that race and ethnic minorities have a higher prevalence of diabetes than non-minority individuals. Studies have compared ethnic groups with similar BMI, age, and sex related variables to determine age of onset and rate of occurrence of type 2 diabetes. There is currently no concrete research that explains why the risk of developing type 2 diabetes is higher in one ethnicity compared to another. Since ethnicities don’t have enough of a genetic difference to impact Type 2 diabetes prevalence, other factors such as differing diets and activity levels may better explain why there is a difference. 

In the state of Minnesota MinnesotaCare is a healthcare program that affords Minnesotans who have a low income to receive health services that are fully covered by the program or at a reduced cost. For enrollees in the program aged 21 or under the premium that an individual has to pay is fully covered by the program. The question I will be investigating is does the data available for county level median household income correlate with the county level enrollment of children aged 0-17 in MinnesotaCare? The data sets utilized in this investigation were provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT data sets for counties in Minnesota. Additionally, data for median household income at the county level for Minnesota was provided by the Census Bureau American FactFinder data sets. I will be conducting an exploratory data analysis to determine if the median household income for counties in Minnesota shows a negative relationship to the enrollment of children in the MinnesotaCare program. The results I expect would be to see that as median household income decreases the number of enrollees would increase in the program. This question poses a lot of important public health implications for the state of Minnesota. Such issues include the effectiveness of marketing and enrollment in the areas of the state that are in most need of the program. How effectively are the resources allocated to the program being utilized based on enrollment where needed most. It also could be used to look at the disparity in low vs. high income areas of the state and how dollars are allocated among those areas. This topic presents many social, economic, and health focused areas of further research.

Costa Rica is one of the most biologically dense places in the world. They are a biodiversity hotspot with many natural resources and native species. In order to protect the environment, the country has over 30% of its landscape marked for conservation. They make the effort to reduce species endangerment, minimize deforestation, and preserve natural habitats. This is possible through a series of policies, initiatives, and formal protections. Some policies include: ecotourism, limiting access to protected or endangered areas, taxation changes, reforestation subsidies to farmers, and sustainable education initiatives. We visited Costa Rica to view some of these initiatives in action.

Antipredator behavior is an essential for nearly all organisms in order to ensure their own survival.  Previous studies have shown that embryos of tadpoles, cichlids and minnows can detect chemical cues about predation risk before they hatch. For our study we will observe hatching rates of zebrafish embryos after exposure to (1) odor of weather loaches fed flake food, (2) weather loaches fed zebrafish embryos, or (3) blank water control. We will record time to hatch then use a microscope camera to take images of the hatchlings and image software to measure morphological differences in larvae based on time to hatch. Video recordings will be used to link morphological changes to swimming performance. We predict that zebrafish embryos exposed to weather loach predator odor will delay hatching, especially when loaches were fed zebrafish embryos. Delayed hatching will result in more complete development and faster swimming performance to enable hatchlings that enter a dangerous world to better evade predators.

West Africa has a large number of natural resources, including diamond, gold, silver, uranium, iron, sugar, woods, and tropical fruits. On the other hand, the population in West Africa is predominantly young, and more than 64% are under the age of 24. West Africa has both natural resources and human resources. However, investors still face the problems of lack of business strategy, a weak business network, and a lack of capital investment. My study tends to provide two possible solutions that are education and the creation of workplaces for young African and the implementation of a common currency in West Africa, which could either have positive or negative effects. The contribution of my study would not only benefit young African but the investors who lead to an immense profit.

Antipyrine, a 5-membered pyrazolone ring including two nitrogens and a carbonyl, has been identified as an early-stage drug candidate for treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).  Our group is synthesizing analogs of antipyrine to better understand and optimize the spatial and polarity dimensions of the drug for improved IPF treatment. Antipyrine has a C4-hydrogen and a C5-methyl substituent.  I will report on a procedure for preparation of variants that replace the C4-hydrogen with variably-sized polar acyl groups, and a method for adding either hydrophobic or hydrophilic groups onto the C5-methyl group.  

I have developed a mild and practical procedure to produce 4-acylantipyrines in high conversion and good purity.  Anhydrous aluminum chloride and acyl chlorides are used.  Procedural details, NMR structural characterization, and the range of carbonyls screened will be presented.  The resulting analogs will eventually be tested at Mayo Clinic to evaluate whether the C4-acyl groups impact drug performance. Preliminary results will also be reported regarding the use of the strong base LDA to deprotonate the antipyrine C5-methyl group.  The coupling of the enolate carbanion with alkyl halide and carbonyl electrophiles will be presented. Procedural details, including the use of air-free atmosphere, anhydrous solvent, and low temperature will be presented.

Antipyrine, a 5-membered pyrazolone ring including two nitrogens and a carbonyl, has been identified as an early-stage drug candidate for treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).  Our group is synthesizing analogs of antipyrine to better understand and optimize the spatial and polarity dimensions of the drug for improved IPF treatment.

Procedures were developed using precursors with similar structures to antipyrine. One being 5-methyl-2-phenylpyrazole. This precursor was used in aldol condensation reactions using aldehydes or ketones to produce novel products. The EDDA catalyst was removed by filtration through silica. The aldehyde products formed as E/Z stereochemical mixtures as evidenced by NMR and GC-MS.  Ketone products formed effectively; however, use of a sterically larger ketone resulted in <50%. Another series of experiments were done on a different starting molecule, aminoantipyrine. N-Acylations were done with four different acyl chlorides to produce previously reported products with varying levels of success. A completely general workup procedure was not developed, due to varying tendency for products to crystallize out of solution; all of the products were solids. Results and procedural details will be presented.

As part of a Strong Summer Research project I worked on planetarium show development and presenting as well as writing a user manual for software we hope to implement at the MSUM planetarium. An existing show about Gustav Holst’s The Planets was polished. Two new shows were written; one about Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and seasonal constellations, and another celebrating pi day. A show about Carnival of the Animals and animal constellations was outlined. A user manual for Open Space Project software was written for use at the MSUM planetarium. I will talk about my experience writing shows, presenting for the general public and private groups, and presenting at the Live Interactive Planetarium Symposium (LIPS) held at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York.

The purpose of this project is to study how class is depicted in Bollywood cinema. Focusing solely on the caste system, which has been a part of India for roughly 3,000 years, this project will show how different films represent this vital Indian socio-cultural phenomenon. While the caste system has been outlawed since the 1950s, it is still present in India today.  For this study, three films from the 2000s have been chosen, Aarakshan (2011), Fandry (2013), and City of Gold (2010) to be analyzed. These films were chosen because they offer different perspectives of a particular class within the system. This textual study provided a better understanding of how the caste system is continued and challenged in contemporary Indian cinema.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) identity is a distinct component of an individual’s character that includes a sexual orientation, gender identity, or both that is different than the general population. Based on social identity development theories, such as Erik Erikson’s Identity Theory (Erikson, 1968), LGBTQ (Kosciw, Greytak, Zongrone, Clark, & Truong, 2018; Fisher & Akman, 2002) youth may face unique challenges that can make this stage of development especially difficult when compared to the general population. A growing literature on LGBTQ youth has found significant results in elevated rates of depression and suicide that may stem from a lack of support from family, peers, and school personnel (Walsh & Rozee, 1992). From these findings, evidence suggests that social support from adults outside of the family during the adolescent years (12-18 years old) may be associated with overall well-being among LGBTQ self-identified young adults. This study’s goal was to explore what social support looks like from LGBTQ self-identified young adults and how that related to their current overall well-being. The findings of this study identify that LGBTQ youth benefit from social support both within the schools and the community. Social support is identified in four major themes and may be related to overall well-being. 

Link between Stress and Diabetes

Diabetes is on the rise, with an estimate of 371 million people worldwide currently living with diabetes. Stress has been shown to cause a fight or flight response increasing blood glucose levels. In the fight or flight response, stress induces the production of hormones like cortisol, causing the release of glucose in the body.   However, for those with Diabetes it is more difficult for the body to metabolize the increase in blood glucose. Studies have found that higher levels of psychological stress can increase the risk of developing diabetes mellitus. It has also been found that eating behaviors and perceived levels of stress are positively associated with the risk of developing diabetes. Over the years, researchers have discussed the potential link between stress and diabetes suggesting that people with anxiety and depression have higher risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. In order to alleviate stress in diabetes it has been shown that those with a higher socioeconomic status can reduce stress levels.  Studies have also shown that shifting the focus in healthcare from explicitly caring for diabetes to also focusing on mental health as it influences the exacerbation of diabetes.  The goal of this research is to determine the effect stress has on diabetes in relation to psychological, socioeconomic, biological, and healthcare factors.  By reducing the stresses of each variable, diabetes related stress decreases resulting in an increase in the individuals overall health.

Many countries around the world rely on the fish populations for their survival. These fish can be very sensitive to the chemical properties that make up their native waters and may even move their populations to another area of a river or lake to try and find water that is more suited to their needs. Data will be observed and linked to see if there is a connection between the gases such as Carbon dioxide, Methane, and Nitrous oxide that are dissolved into the surface water and the chemical properties of that same water as well and how those qualities have affected the size and population numbers of those native fish. The data sets of: Fish Electrofishing, Gill Netting, and Fyke Netting Counts, Chemical Properties of Surface Water, and Dissolved Gases in Surface Water from 2018 found within the NEON Database will be used to try and identify these connections. R Studio will be used to analyze this existing statistics and try to make sense of where the data overlaps. If a positive result is found this information could be used to track where groups of fish are more likely to be found within a waterway and possibly help to predict how future installations that might change these properties of rivers and lakes will affect the fish populations that reside within their depths. 

Periods of low tide are when the water level recedes back farther into the ocean exposing large amounts of rock and sediment that is normally not seen along the shoreline. Many organisms depend on these areas for both protection and sustenance. Many of the invertebrates that are found here do not have the ability to move to areas of constant water coverage, therefore they have evolved to employ specific mechanisms that keep them from drying out. We will be observing and recording the implementations of these abilities in barnacles, anemones, crabs, and other common invertebrates required for survival within the Cabo Blanco reserve in Costa Rica. This is an important aspect to tropical conservation because it shows a species ability to evolve and adapt to an ever changing environment in order to ensure success within the population. 

Detecting and avoiding predators is an important part of the ecology of small fish. We tested zebrafish, Danio rerio, to explore how they associate predation risk with auditory stimuli. Zebrafish were conditioned by simultaneously exposing them to chemical alarm cues (released from skin extract, simulating cues released by a predator attack) and auditory stimuli to associate the two together. They were then retested using just the auditory stimuli alone to see if they would react in a similar manner without the presence of alarm cues. Zebrafish demonstrated that they learned to associate fear with an auditory stimulus after a single simultaneous pairing of with skin extract. We then tested whether zebrafish learning was specific to the frequency of the tone used in the conditioning trial, or if they showed generalized learning to associate fear with tones of any frequency. Zebrafish were conditioned in the same way as before except this time the note used during the testing phase was different from the tone frequency used during conditioning. Zebrafish responses were consistent with association of fear with specific tone frequencies, and not a generalized fear response to any tone frequency. This is the first known research done on learned specialization between two notes and its correlation to a predatory risk in response to a chemical alarm cue. This raises questions as to how far this range of specialization can go following the spectrum of sound.

The MSUM Marine Ecology Lab provides a unique and multifaceted experience to the MSUM community where students can do hands-on research and learn about marine life. Students who join this lab are encouraged to do research on the animals they are hoping to see here at MSUM; they work through finding the correct water conditions, the food the animal requires, and how to mimic its natural environment. Our centerpiece is currently The Stingray Lagoon, where students can observe stingrays and horseshoe crabs; the students also have the ability to interact with the animals. The facility also features a functioning tide pool, that contains multiple intertidal organisms that students can learn about. The lab also features multiple other marine ecosystem displays. This lab allows students from any major to interact with animals they would otherwise not see because they live in Minnesota. The MEL is a popular destination for field trips for local K12 students and other youth groups. MSUM students lead tours for hundreds of youth in the Moorhead/Fargo community each year, making the MEL not only academically distinct, but also an important vehicle for community engagement. The Marine Lab is currently used for plenty of outreach with K12 students, College for Kids and Teens, the YES program for high school youth, and tours by Admissions for prospective students and their families. The room is also used as part of the curriculum for several courses at MSUM to enrich the educational experience of MSUM students with live marine organisms.

This project analyzes class identity in the films written and directed by Bong Joon Ho. The purpose is to show how a filmmaker's intentionality in messages and themes strengthens their work, and that themes such as class identity resonates universally with everyone. Bong Joon Ho's films are known for their interest in class and how it affects society as a whole. The project focuses on how wealth and poverty affects each of the characters in four of his films: Parasite, Okja, Snowpiercer, and The Host. These four films were chosen for the study because the themes of wealth, poverty, and class are dominant in each of them. By way of method, the project examines the diverse ways in which economic circumstances of the characters' affect their moral standpoint and decisions. Does wealth make them kinder, or more cruel? Do the wealthy have actual empathy for the working class, or just contempt? 

The purpose of this study is to research the relationships between adverse childhood experiences, perceived control from one's own doing, relationship styles and political orientation. It is hypothesized that adverse childhood experiences, low perceived control and negative attachment styles are related to a more extreme political orientation. Participants in the study will be Minnesota State University Moorhead psychology students over the age of 18. The participants will take a survey through Qualtrics with no identifiable information gathered that would trace them to the results. The survey includes demographic questions and the following scales: general self-efficacy, spheres of control, adverse childhood experiences, PTSD, experiences in close relationships- revised, ICP locus of control, ideological consistency, and political orientation. This will be done at Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Psychology department in Dr. Edward’s psychology lab. Only those with sign consent will participate in the study. The consent forms will be signed and stored in the principle investigator’s locked file cabinet. No identifiable information will be asked in the survey that would link them to their signed consent form. The survey will be taken in a private room on a password protected computer.  

Oral health pertains to everyone and is important to maintain as it can affect an individual’s overall health and well-being. Oral diseases are one of the most common chronic diseases and are linked to socio-economic status where the disadvantaged have less access to quality care. I want to determine whether or not there is a correlation between access to dental care and quality of life in Minnesotan counties. The data set that I will use for this project is the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps raw data from 2019 (accessed from countyhealthrankings.org). I will be preforming an exploratory data analysis in which I will compare the number of dentists per county and number of uninsured individuals per county to factors that quantify the quality of life such as: poor or fair health, poor physical health days, poor mental health days and low birthweight. For those who do have access to dental care, I hope that this study will encourage them to use this advantage to maintain or increase their quality of life.

Hummingbirds are an important pollinator in many neotropical forest ecosystems. But as more land is being converted from forest to agriculture, little is known about the effects on native pollinators. This bears the question; how is land type associated with Costa Rican hummingbird sightings per season? I will be using data from the “Loss of avian phylogenetic diversity in neotropical agricultural systems” dataset from the Dryad database system. By conducting an exploratory data analysis in R I will be comparing the number of detections of three different species of hummingbirds with land type. With this information, a further in-depth study can be done looking into specific plant types and species versus detection hummingbirds.

Tide pools are shallow pools formed during low tide in intertidal zones of areas where seawater meets land. Many different species of animals inhabit tide pools to wait out the low tide. What is the relationship between time of day and the amount of biodiversity? Using data collected in Costa Rica we will be looking at the difference between the number of different species during the day versus at night. Moving forward this information can be used to look more in-depth at species that are always present versus species that are caught there by accident.

The purpose of this study is to examine Millennials and Gen Zs’ travel destination decision-making process in social media. Social media is frequently used and affects where Millennials and Gen Zs are going to travel. Therefore, we plan to investigate the process of young generations’ travel destination choice by adopting Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) and Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). UGT is used as users seek out media that fulfills their needs and leads to the ultimate gratification (Weaver Lariscy et al., 2011). TRA suggests that an individual’s intention to engage in a particular behavior is influenced by their attitudes (Rodrigo, Khan, & Ekinci, 2019). 

Through our hypothesis we will examine whether entertainment / escape needs, vicarious pleasure, and information needs affect traveler’s attitude towards post about travel destination. Also, we will examine whether a positive attitude toward social media content about travel destinations influences consumers’ intentions to travel, follow destinations’ official social media pages, and spread electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). 

The findings will provide practical implications by explaining how millennials and Gen Zs’ motives toward travel and how they develop attitude toward destination and how important information is shared on social media. Thus, millennials and Gen Z sharing their opinions about travel destination on social media may increase traffic to destination page on social media. Future research needs to examine more constructs which affect attitude toward travel destination and the eWOM effect on social media.

The purpose of our project is to develop storage sharing services for international
students at Minnesota State University Moorhead -international students travel to the United
States and attend classes. When traveling back to home countries, international students would
need a space to store their items. Using Lean Start-up canvas with custom visit techniques, we
collected data from around 15 international students throughout campus and discovered their
needs of storage sharing services. Our study shows that there are positive relationships
between storage cleanness, storage safety, affordable price, and popularity of storage sharing
services. Our project reveals that our storage share services will help international students at
MSUM who want to store their items during vacations by having clean and safe storage at an
affordable cost.

This study utilized a phenomenological design to understand the process through which speech-language pathologist choose between LSVT Loud and SPEAK OUT! approaches when providing treatment to individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Semi-structured interviews revealed that participants utilize the three components of the evidence-based practice triangle; however, client characteristics such as cognitive decline and progression of the disease were on strongly considered by the participants when selecting between the two approaches. These themes and other considerations will be discussed as part of the overall participant experiences when selecting either LSVT or SPEAK OUT!. Recommendations for future research include completing a larger study that can be externally generalized. This information may help patients and caregivers better understand the process through which SLPs pull together knowledge of current evidence, previous clinical experience, and client characteristics and preferences.

Abstract

    Infant mortality is a serios problem affecting the United states until this day. The US has a significantly higher infant mortality rate compared to other developed countries. Being able to analyze trends of infant mortality by race is important in the process of solving this problem. The objective of the study was to figure out trends of infant mortality rate in the state of Maryland from 2008 to 2017.This descriptive study analyzed data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. The study went on from 2005 to 2017. The US has one of the highest infant mortalities compared to other developed countries. Hence, this study will help structure and address a higher level of urgent health care attention to specific communities in the country.

Cancer is a name for a broad set of diseases characterized by unregulated cell division and grouping, usually associated with genetic defects and mutations. Research has proven that these deviations can be induced by a range of complex biochemical factors and thus a variety of biological, chemical, and environmental causal chains can promulgate the risk of cancer. Many of the risk factors of cancer are naturally more prevalent throughout impoverished states, therefore it seems that these states may very well have higher incidence of cancer. The factors that may naturally present themselves in this regard include vulnerability to drug use, environmental factors i.e. toxic chemical/particulate matter exposure, poverty, lack of access to a regular primary care physician - usually in association with or because of a lack of adequate health insurance – and the normalization of high-risk behaviors like obesity and cigarette smoking. I will use exploratory data analysis upon datasets in conjunction with state data- including U.S. County Health Statistics, County Health Ratings and Roadmaps, and United States Cancer Statistics - to interpret that these elements are much more ubiquitous in low-income states and demonstrate that these areas have a higher incidence of the cancers that might be expected from the prevalence of these risk factors. I believe that a better understanding of such correlations will inform public health officials to reach out to the affected communities to educate and provide preventative health measures and services.

Acetabular labral tears are becoming a more prominent injury for athletes. The acetabular labrum is important to the hip joint both anatomically and biomechanically. Little research exists on acetabular labral injury because its prevalence has increased over the last decade. Acetabular labral tears are present in 22-55% of individuals with hip and groin pain (Reiman, Matherlll, Hash ll, & Cook, 2014) making it hard to diagnose and ultimately difficult to treat due to the anatomy of the hip and its surrounding structures, such as the adductor muscle group. This literature review examines the occurrence of acetabular labral tears within an athletic population, how they are diagnosed, managed, and return to play guidelines. Ten articles were reviewed for this literature review. Clinical features, diagnostic testing and imaging can optimize the diagnosis of acetabular labral tears. Arthroscopic management is the best option in treating acetabular labral tears and maximize return to play. Awareness of acetabular labral tears and their frequency has allowed medical practitioners and athletic trainers to become more knowledgeable in the diagnosis and treatment of acetabular labral tears in athletes.

In this poster, we discuss how to build an effective aquaponics system from scratch and the difference in plants grown in soil versus plants grown via aquaponics. While there are many designs available, we chose to build a media bed style system. This system contains a tank of fish, which produce nitrogenous waste (mainly in the form of ammonia). This waste material is pumped into the media bed where bacteria break it down into usable nitrites and nitrates. Plants need these transformed nutrients to grow and thrive. They take up the nutrients, filtering the water in the process. This clean, filtered water is returned to the fish and the cycle begins again. We compared the resulting leaves and fruit to see if there is a difference in plants grown in our aquaponics system versus those in our soil system control. We also checked nitrogen levels in the system to see if they remained stable over time. 

Research has shown a significant correlation between the gut and oral microbiota and the development and progression of pancreatic cancers. With this poster, we will illuminate some of the ways that the interaction of microflora can increase or decrease the susceptibility of individuals to pancreatic and other cancers. Microbiome composition has also been shown to influence the effectiveness of various treatments for pancreatic cancers by mediating immune inflammatory responses, altering oncogenes, and by manipulating metabolic regulation of tumor cells.This research will focus on identifying specific interactions between the microbiome and pancreatic cancer and proposing further research to examine said interactions.

DNA methylation is important in the developing brain since abnormal methylation patterns have been linked to developmental disorders. DNA methylation is a primary regulator in genetic information, specifically acting at CpG dinucleotides. This process is also linked to abnormal birth defects such as birth malformations and human carcinomas, such as glioblastoma, which can also lead to early pregnancy loss. This study aims to look at the global DNA methylation patterns in embryonic murine brains at pre-embryonic timepoints: E11, E15, & E18 and post-embryonic timepoints: P3, P7, & P42. Using real time qPCR we will measure DNMT1, DNMT3a/b, and TET 1/2/3 gene expression. DNMT1, DNMT3a and DNMT3b are responsible for the maintenance and de novo methylation respectively of cytosine. The TET 1/2/3 family of genes are responsible for hydroxymethylation of cytosine. One way ANOVA will be used to perform statistical analysis on the variation in methylated DNA levels to examine if there is an impact of varying methylation patterns in brain development. DNA methylation underlies many tumor associated changes, and has also been linked to glioblastoma. Hence, further research into DNA methylation associated changes in the developing brain will be crucial in understanding the molecular basis of glioblastoma.

Aspergillus fumigatus is a fungus commonly found in the environment with a high prevalence in farming communities and in areas of high moisture. When these fungal spores are inhaled, they irritate the respiratory system of asthmatic individuals.  Previous studies we have performed examined the effects of A. fumigatus, however, we had not yet examined the possible differences between male and female immune responses. To simulate the body’s immunological response in humans and passive exposure in the environment, our study used C57Bl/6J murine models who have been exposed via inhalation methods to A. fumigatus weekly for three weeks. BAL samples were taken to examine the airway remodeling at Days 0, 3, and 28. White blood cell counts from the BAL were collected to examine the body’s innate and acquired immune response. We used a two-way ANOVA to examine the differences. Our results reinforce our previous study of A. fumigatus causing an increased immunological response than those not treated. However, we have inconclusive evidence of males and females having different immunological responses. Nonetheless, our data supports the notion of A. fumigatus causing adverse immunological effects on the respiratory system.

Aspergillus fumigatus is a fungus commonly found in the environment with a high prevalence in farming communities and in areas of high moisture, such as in the aftermath of a hurricane or flooding. Upon inhalation, these fungal spores irritate the respiratory systems of allergic individuals. To simulate human and environmental exposure, we exposed C57BL/^J mice to A. fumigatus via inhalation once a week for three weeks. Bronchoalveolar lavage lung samples were taken to examine the airway remodeling at Days 0,3, and 28. Airway remodeling is the irreversible structural changes within the lungs and includes epithelial thickness. Epithelial cell proliferation in asthmatic individuals have been found to be impaired. In addition, asthmatic airways can experience epithelial wall shedding and thickening in conjunction with an increased number of blood vessels which causes a narrowing of the airway. Narrowing of the airways poses as a major complication for asthmatic individuals. Using histology samples and the Image J software, we will measure the epithelial cell thickness in a gender and time point independent fashion. If differences are found evident, these results will lead for a more in depth look at gender specific treatment options for asthma.

Neuroinflammation is a result of systemic inflammation caused by binge alcohol drinking and/ or addiction. However, the underlying mechanisms behind the modulation of addiction past systemic inflammation remains largely inconclusive. Ghrelin, also known as the hunger hormone, has been found to have increased addictive behaviors while also having anti-inflammatory effects. Conversely, the ghrelin receptor, GHS-R1a have been found to suppress addiction associated learning and dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. GHS-R1a is expressed in more than 50% of dopaminergic Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) neurons, which is also been shown to form a heteromeric complex in  hypothalamic neurons that coexpress dopaminergic D2 receptors (DRD2) in the hypothalamus. Research has demonstrated that in the heteromer formation of a DRD2:GHS-R1a can result in anorexic murine behavior and the knockout of the DRD2 pathway removes the anorexic behavior. Therefore, we propose binge alcohol consumption causes systemic inflammation and disruption of ghrelin signaling, followed by chronic maladaptive neuroimmune signaling that modulates GHS-R1a:DRD2 heteromer formation in the VTA resulting in aberrant dopamine signaling in the mesolimbic pathway leading to addictive behaviors.

In 2019, Altay conducted a study in Turkey to identify family physicians' awareness of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of this study is to conduct the same survey with pediatricians within the Fargo-Moorhead area and draw comparisons between the two geographical locations. Many children with ASD attend multiple doctor and therapy appointments and are frequently seen by pediatricians. A previous study revealed that many families feel as though their doctors don't have an adequate understanding of ASD. This study hopes to bring awareness of ASD while educating pediatricians on the disorder and providing a more positive experience while visiting the doctor.

Despite restrictions and censorship in place, Iran’s cinema is critically acclaimed and appreciated by film critics and cinema enthusiasts around the world. This project examines the work of contemporary female Iranian directors such as Samira Makhmalbaf, Rakhshan Banietemad, Pouran Derakh'shandeh, and Narges Abyar and how they are pushing the boundaries set in place by government censorship of cinema, such as the requirement that women in film cover their heads, even when indoors. Films examined include Under the Smoky Roof (2017), Blackboards (2000), and Canary Yellow (1989), selected to show progression of film over time. By examining these films, this project's goal is to gain a sense of how Iranian cinema from female directors has changed from immediately post-revolution to today in terms of pushing boundaries. This project identifies what exactly is not allowed by censorship, and how these directors negotiate the restrictions in order to gain a better understanding of Iran’s national cinema as a whole. The project demonstrates how artists navigate constraints as they explore questions of nationhood. 

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of using video modeling as an intervention strategy to teach social communication skills with individuals who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Video modeling can be defined as a method where an individual can develop, improve, or change a behavior using videos that demonstrate the desired or targeted behavior (Buggey, 2012, Chapter 14). Three common forms of video modeling include adult/peer modeling, point-of-view modeling, and self-modeling. The effects of each type of video modeling were reviewed in the literature. A common theme between all three forms of video-modeling included that the ability to attend to video, use verbal communication, imitate, and self-recognize were all skills that need to present for video modeling to be successful. (Williamson, Casey, Robertson, & Buggey, 2013).  Although further research is still needed in the area of video modeling, the literature suggests that overall, video modeling can be an effective intervention strategy to help teach social skills to individuals diagnosed with ASD.

The changing environment in Arctic Alaska due to climate change is a threat to the people living there as well as the various ecosystems which are being drastically altered. The encroaching shorelines and loss of permafrost is permanently altering the landscape. Soil samples taken at four different sites in Alaska between 2016 and 2018 and an exploratory data analysis in Rstudio will be used to analyze the soil microbial community concentrations. The purpose of this analysis is to answer the question of if there is a higher fungal concentration in the soil microbial communities in the tundra compared to marsh and shrub land. Understanding the composition of the soil in different land covers gives us a reference to how much the landscape is changing and what we can expect with the increasing temperatures.

The roles and activities of microbial life dictate the course of human existence much more than we often realize. In fact, prior to Antony van Leewenhoek’s microscopy developments in the 17th century, we could not even visualize microbes. Since that time, the field of microbiology has developed into a robust area of scientific discovery pertaining to public health, pharmaceutical development, food chemistry, and many other topics. An organization that works to further research in microbiology and advocate for scientifically informed public policy as well as increase public awareness of the critical role that microbial life plays in the American Society of Microbiology (ASM). The student chapter of ASM was initiated at MSUM in 2019 and has worked toward the goal of increasing public awareness and understanding of the importance of microbes by planning events such as Antibiotic Awareness Day and Probiotics Breakfast Bar. With this presentation, we would like to share the exciting developments in the field of microbiology and the work of ASM student chapter, with students and faculty at MSUM.

A 2008 study by United States Geological Survey across nine states identified 85 compounds, including estrogen and other endocrine disrupting chemical (EDCs), present in municipal water systems. Subsequent research has further confirmed the presence of EDCs in municipal water systems. Although birth control pills and other hormones were initially suspected and the effectiveness of water treatment plants were scrutinized, other studies suggest estrogens from livestock are a major contributor.  Studies have also identified several negative effects of these chemicals, from infertility and feminization of aquatic species to acceleration of breast tumor growth in human cell lines. Research from previous years used Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA) to quantify estrogens, bisphenols and alkylphenols present in the Fargo-Moorhead area the Red River of the North, and results from the ELISAs show increased levels of estrogens downstream of the City of Fargo Water Treatment Plant. This year, analysis of estrogenic chemicals will also be performed with high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (HPLC-MS), which offers several potential advantages: lower cost per sample, ability to differentiate between individual chemicals within a category, ability to detect multiple classes of compounds within a single sample, and higher sensitivity.  Comparison with ELISA results will be performed.

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the most effective methods of inflicting fear through horror video games. Some methods of producing fear are not as effective as others, therefore the study will determine which methods work best. We will do this by analyzing reaction videos from the players as well as compiling written reviews about the game Outlast 2. The study quantifies player reactions by categorizing emotional and physical responses to in-game stimuli, ranging from extreme fear to neutral reactions. Examining the most effective methods of causing fear will allow creators and game developers to replicate and improve the effectiveness of future horror video games. 

The purpose of this presentation is to investigate the effects of lifestyle choices on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM2), which is the insulin resistant form. The lifestyle choices that will be investigated include smoking, exercise, and diet. Previous research has found that smoking cigarettes leads to higher insulin resistance through inflammation and dyslipidemia and increases micro- and macrovascular complications of DM2. The amount of cigarettes and the involvement of cessation of smoking has played a role in the risk of DM2 as well. It was also found that physical activity is important in managing and preventing DM2 as it improves blood glucose control, prevents and delays onset of DM2, and positively impacts lipids, blood pressure, cardiovascular events, mortality and quality of life. Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise aids in DM2 treatment and insulin sensitivity. Research has also found that changing one’s dietary intake, whether through intensive intervention or individual choice, can have a significant impact on the development and prevention of DM2.  Fasting glucose (HbA1c) levels as well as other clinical measurements including weight, blood pressure, waist circumference, and BMI are all impacted through diet.  With the prevalence of type 2 diabetes diagnoses today, it is essential to understand how our lifestyle choices affect not just the development of DM2 but also the treatment of it.

The purpose of our study is to find ways to reduce the stigma of labeling in special education. We will be providing information about the ways labeling affects students and families. We will take a look at the history of labels in special education and how they were developed. Our poster will explain why we need to reduce the stigma in special education. 

When mice lack CD4+ T-cells, the antibody, IgA, was secreted in the respiratory tracts following an infection (Sealy et al., 2017). IgA is used to protect surfaces with mucosal surface present (Jacob et al., 2008). When mice are exposed to the Aspergillus fumigatus, we predict the female mice to have a stronger immune response, therefore, more production of the IgA antibody compared to males. Relevance for this prediction is evidence of females having a stronger immune response than males due to differing hormones: testosterone and estrogen. We will expose mice (10 male, 10 female; 6 weeks old) to Aspergillus fumigatus each day for 28 days. On the first day before exposure we will take the first blood sample (day 0; control group). The second sample will be taken at 3 days and a third sample at 28 days. We will use the blood samples to determine the IgA antibody concentration using an IgA specific ELISA. The average IgA concentration in male and female mice will be computed for each sample, and then compared individually (day 0, day 3, and day 28). To analyze the statistical results, a two-way ANOVA will be performed. Our expected results would be the female mice exposed to the Aspergillus fumigatus would have an increase in IgA at day 28 compared to the male mice since IgA is an adaptive immune response. Knowing that IgA attacks against foreign pathogens in mucosal areas, we want to further investigate this between mice genders to determine if the presence of more estrogen (females) or testosterone (males) affects the amount of this antibody that is produced. Evidence has shown that there is a difference in immune responses based on sex (Klein & Flanagan, 2016).

This project analyzes the set and costume design in the films of Jia Zhangke. Jia Zhangke has had, and continues to have a major impact on the Chinese film industry as a whole, as he was one of the first to shy away from Fifth Generation, lushly-colored wuxia dramas in favor of a more nuanced style of filmmaking. The films for this study include Xiao Wu, Platform, Unknown Pleasures, The World, Still Life, 24 City, and A Touch of Sin. The focus of the textual analyses is the relationship between the production designs Zhangke's films and the broader movement - 6th generation Chinese cinema in which his work participates. 

Numerous previous studies have investigated the role of confirmation bias in determining guilt in a courtroom setting. However, few studies to date have examined the intersections of defendant race and religion. This research sought to understand how these demographic factors interact to influence verdicts for the suspect in an ambiguous crime. College undergraduates were first asked to complete a demographic survey. They then analyzed the description of an ambiguous crime, and read a corresponding suspect demographic sheet, which included the suspect’s religion (either Lutheran or Muslim) and other basic information.  This information was accompanied by a picture of the suspect, which depicted either a black man or a white man. After analyzing the case information, participants recording their judgments of suspect guilt or innocence; however, we did not detect any significant differences in the guilt perceptions of the four suspects with varying racial identities and religious affiliations.  Potential avenues for future research include investigating different suspect demographic combinations in the context of varying crime severity scenarios.

#BlackLivesMatter was started in 2013 as a response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch officer who shot and killed Trayvon Martin. #BlackLivesMatter has since been used in over 40 Million tweets, with an average of 17,000 tweets containing the hashtag per day. #BlackLivesMatter has become a prominent movement, with marches and rallies occurring across the United States. The movement has established itself as an ideological and political intervention that seeks to empower all black people, regardless of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or religious affiliation. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of the #BlackLivesMatter movement among MSUM students.

The use of game cameras or “camera traps” is becoming more common to document many wild animals that would otherwise be difficult to physically capture or track, such as large carnivores.  For our study, Reconyx Game Cameras (HC600 Hyperfire) were set up and arranged in various areas of the Minnesota State University Moorhead  Regional Science Center (RSC) and at several city parks in the Fargo Park District for a period of a few weeks during the summer and/or early fall of 2018 and 2019. Cameras were locked onto trees in likely habitats.  Wooden shims that had been soaked in commercial urine, usually from coyotes (Canis latrans), were stuck in the ground in front of each camera to attract animals, especially carnivore species. Species documented in the urban parks included red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and raccoons (Procyon lotor).  A gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and mouse (Peromyscus sp.) were recorded in the rural areas.  White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were most commonly recorded in both habitats, and we will compare their activity patterns in more detail regarding seasonal and temporal activity patterns and moon phase. 

The Reusable Coffee Sleeve Company

Christ Kilham who is known for being a medicine hunter said, “Coffee is already known to be a preventative factor against mild depression, Parkinson's disease, and colon and rectal cancers.” Coffee has been around for more than 5000 years and people nowadays are consuming more than ever. Studies show the most popular beverage in the world and about 60% of Americans drink coffee every day. With those coffee cups come the sleeve.

A sleeve, though it is usually attractive to look at with the company's logo, the name of the drink, and the name of the customer receiving it. However, the primary purpose of the sleeve is to act as an insulator while allowing the patron to hold the cup without discomfort. So, the problem is that about 50 billion paper coffee sleeves are thrown away in the U.S. Throwing coffee sleeves has become a sort of norm in our society. So, to improve our behavior we introduce a reusable coffee sleeve that is convenient and eco-friendly. Our reusable coffee sleeves help young adult coffee/tea lovers who want to reduce waste and carry their beverage by eliminating discomfort and improving the environment. (Unlike Starbucks and Caribou Coffee).

        In a survey, multiple people were interviewed in the Dragon Café here at MSU Moorhead. Out of five, one individual does not drink coffee. However, ¾ said they preferred a coffee sleeve. According to the data, we have a 75 % demand in the market. The second set of surveys included the questions: How many times in the past month have you used a reusable product? How often do you forget to grab your reusable item before leaving? Are you okay with a one time payment for that reusable item? With our conversations, we came to the conclusion that our sleeves must be easy to grab-and-go, it’s nice to have an incentive with using these items, and when the customer has a set intention of use, the reusable sleeve will most likely be used.

Our idea is to include a buckle to adjust the sleeve to any size cup, bottle, etc. It includes comfortable material for hold, while also keeping in the heat of the choice of beverage. Currently, we have one version of a prototype made up of colored paper with the ideal features included.

A literature review was completed to understand the available research on existing barriers to implementing Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) in early childhood. Augmented and Alternative Communication gives opportunities to individuals who are not able to verbally communicate all of their wants, needs, and ideas (Romski & Sevick, 2005). There are many barriers that limit access to AAC and subsequently, effective communication. It is important to explore AAC at a young age when a child is unable to verbally express their wants and needs. Augmented and Alternative Communication makes a positive and useful impact on language (Whitmore, Romski, & Sevcik, 2014). The barriers to implementing AAC include, but are not limited to, family and provider beliefs about using AAC, individual physical access barriers, and funding challenges. These barriers will be discussed in-depth as well as the role of the speech language pathologist when addressing AAC barriers (Judge, Floyd, & Wood-Fields, 2010). Without improved AAC access, individuals face educational and social isolation due to not being able to communicate with others (Romski, Sevcik, Barton-Hulsey, & Whitmore, 2015). Speech language pathologists continue to confront the barriers that surround the use of AAC in early childhood.

This study was conducted by reviewing the current literature related to the vocal demands of actors and singers with attention to the prevalence of voice disorders in this population. The success of a professional performer relies upon vocal endurance. A performer's vocal demands include the use of projection, singing, talking, and shouting. This extended vocal use leads to a higher prevalence of voice disorders in professional performers (Lerner, Paskhover, Acton, & Young, 2013). With increased prevalence, the difference between non-performers and performers is an important consideration for speech-language pathologists when evaluating and treating voice disorders. Zeine and Waltar (2002) also emphasized the importance of population-specific prevention and treatment strategies for actors. 

Fertility rate measures the average number of children a woman births during her childbearing years. This rate expresses the number of births per 1000 women, ages 15 to 44, in a calendar year. The African continent reports the highest global fertility rate, averaging 4.7 births per woman compared to Europe and North America which average 1.7 and 1.74 births per woman, respectively. Using regression analysis, this paper analyzes economic (income, female participation in the labor force) and socioeconomic (education, life expectancy) factors the literature has related to fertility rates in Africa to determine their influence in the West African countries of Guinea Conakry, Mali, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Sierra Leone specifically.  This research could inform family planning, female empowerment, public policies and budget allocations in these West African nations.

Mosquitos are found nearly everywhere in the United States and they make up a large portion of invertebrate biomass in aquatic systems. They are also a key food source for many organisms, and they act as a vector for numerous parasites and pathogens of humans, livestock, and wildlife. Studying where mosquitos reside and at what time of day they are most prevalent can be of assistance to public health professionals with determining the best ways to protect against vector borne pathogens and parasites. The purpose of this data analysis is to see what the effects of habitat, time, and date have on the presence of mosquito species in Texas. I will be using the Mosquitos sampled from CO2 traps, data set from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) website. I will be doing a data analysis of this data set by comparing the effects of habitat, time and date on the presence of mosquitos. I expect to find that the presence of mosquitos varies depending on the time of day, date, and which habitat they live in.

This study explores the relationship between the films, The Grudge/Ju-On (2002), Ring/Ringu (1998), TekeTeke (2009), and Carved (2007) and the urban legends that inspired them. Urban legends are a part of every culture and by learning about them we learn about our own culture. Similarly, by studying the urban legends of other cultures, one can gain insight not only to the ideologies of that culture but also how ideology is represented in moving images. Thus, by understanding Japanese urban legends and how they are depicted in Japanese horror films we will gain an understanding of a part of Japanese culture.

Many can relate to or remember a person who is just like Gordon Ramsay, and that their behavior was not to discourage, but to positively motivate and inspire others to do better. The research from this study will show how the world’s social values have changed in using anger as a motivational tool from 2005 to the present. Gordon Ramsay, as an authoritative figure, has the ability to positively or negatively motivate his contestants; and how the contestants react to his criticism. Examples such as, yelling back, running off, or crying. Our method of research will be watching the first episode of each season (18 episodes total) of Hell’s Kitchen. Through watching these episodes, there will be evidence of how each individual perceives the criticism.

Ben Giese

Correlation Between Canada Goose Migration and Changing Seasonal Temperatures

                Changing annual temperatures can have significant effects on animal behaviors and their survival. Many animals base said behaviors on the changing seasons and as a result are directly affected. One example of a major animal behavior that many are familiar with is the southbound migration of Geese in the fall, and northbound migration in the spring. I chose to analyze how the mass migration of Canada Geese is affected by the changing average temperatures throughout the years to see if there is any true correlation between the two.

                I plan on analyzing this question by conducting an exploratory data analysis using R, to better understand the data provided by NEON and the eBird science group. I will be looking more specifically at the spring and fall Canada Geese counts and dates, in each county in Minnesota throughout the years to approximate annual arrival and departures of the Geese. With that, I will then compare average temperatures experienced at those times to see if changing annual temperatures is causing the geese to alter their seasonal migrations.

                This analysis can be beneficial to others as it directly shows how changing temperatures are affecting animal behaviors. It also gives a representation of how seasons are affected as the migration is directly related to seasonal temperature changes. The next step would be to analyze other animal species behaviors and how they are affected as well.

                This project utilizes agricultural and commodity price data determine correlations that exist between ethanol demand and the price of corn. The regressions of historical yield and price of corn is examined against the historical demand and price of ethanol by an artificially intelligent system to predict what the expected corn prices and ethanol prices will be in the future to provide insight as to how much corn should be planted in the future and what and what its expected value should be. This system will be valuable because ethanol consuming vehicles are becoming more common and a better insight is needed to know how much corn will be in demand for a given year based off the projected quantity of ethanol demanded.

This project will be studying the way horror was implemented into professional wrestling films, most commonly known as lucha libre films. Although lucha libre films are still being made today, this study focuses on the era when they were at their most popular, the 1960s through the early 1970s. This is also the time when horror was most prevalent in these films. This study is going to focus on 4 out of 52 films of the famous masked luchador, El Santo. These films were chosen because they were the only ones dubbed in English. There are other lucha libre films from this time that are available in English, but the choice of films was more focused on El Santo’s popularity compared to the other luchadores of the time. The films examined were Santo vs. The Zombies (1961), Santo vs. The Vampire Women (1962), Santo in the Wax Museum (1963), and Santo vs. Dr. Death (1973). Through textual analyses of these films, the study shows the when, why, and how the fusion of horror and professional wrestling as well as what light this filmic strategy sheds on Mexican cinema of this period.

Obesity is a medical condition in which a person has excessive weight or body fat that affects their health. For children and teens of the same age and sex, having a BMI at or above the 95th percentile is considered as being obese. The prevalence of obesity has increased worldwide with about 13.7 million children and teens affected in the United States. It is important to identify the lifestyle-related behaviors that contribute to obesity to prevent it. Lifestyle-related behaviors such as eating habits, physical activity, and sedentary behavior have been indicated to have an association with childhood obesity. The purpose of this study is to examine the association between physical inactivity and obesity in children and teens by gender in the United States. Two data sets will be used from the KIDS COUNT Data Center from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The variables I will be looking into are the obesity rates in children among different US states (which states have the highest obesity rates) along with the rates by gender and the effect of regular exercise on those variables. An exploratory data analysis will be performed to create visual presentations showing summaries of the data. There is a limited amount of research on obesity among children unlike among adults. Therefore, this study might provide a better understanding of health behaviors that influence obesity so that it can be implemented to prevent childhood obesity and its consequences.

I am proposing that we automate a new user setup for new employees that are hired by my company Stoneridge Software. Currently, when new employees are brought on to our company we need to go to our on-premise active directory (AD) and add all the information by hand, which could lead to entry errors and possible missing entry info if adding multiple users at one time. The plan of attack to conquer this proposal would be to allow us in IT to enter the new user info using Microsoft PowerApps to get all new hire information. This info then will be transferred to a SharePoint list where this information is stored and can be reviewed if needed to be. From there once the info is loaded into the SharePoint list it triggers a Flow from Microsoft Power Automation (used to be named Microsoft Flow). Which will set variables for the users such as passwords, usernames, and UPN’s (User Principal Name) and then will trigger to run an Azure Automation Hybrid Runbook to start the PowerShell code script. This script complete jobs that we would usually have to do manually such as: Create user on On-Premise AD, set password, add to multiple groups, fill in job title, manager, username, phone number, address of office, and will also connect to MSol-Services and assign the proper Microsoft licenses based on their job title. The majority of the project will be completed on the back of the Runbook PowerShell script.

The purpose of this project is to examine and discuss the underground Romanian filmmakers known as Kinema Ikon, and explore their experimental surrealist films between 1970 and 1989. What I aim to examine specifically is how these filmmakers use editing as a stylistic element to portray stories about the communist occupation of Romania; this exploration of editing will include a discussion on the themes and messages commonly found within Kinema Ikon films. Preliminary research consisted of watching and dissecting twenty individual films from Kinema Ikon, and analysing not only Kinema Ikon’s socio-political messages, but also how this group employed and combined editing strategies from Russian, Italian, and American cinema. The goal of this project is to answer the question of how Kinema Ikon uses editing as a stylistic element to portray unique narratives and perspectives on the occupation of Romania. 

The purpose of our study was to investigate the impact of fine arts education with people with disabilities. We focused mainly on art and music in the fine arts department. There are many benefits from art and music that helps people with their emotional, social and even behavioral skills.

Antibiotics are used to help fight bacterial diseases. Due to the increased usage of antibiotics, bacteria can develop mutations resulting in resistance. One alternative to antibiotic treatment is phage infection. Phage infection has been shown to aid the antibiotic in the process of fighting the infection. Our research goal was to determine if Microbacterium phages influence antibiotic resistance. We discovered and isolated two phages to be used for further research, RosaDiaz and Shakin. These phages were registered and accepted into the phage database, PhagesDB.org. A transmission electron microscope was used to conclude that these phages have different characteristics. RosaDiaz was a podoviridae phage and Shakin was a siphoviridae phage. This research project includes using these two phages and Microbacterium foliorum to test antibiotic resistance to Vancomycin in the presence of phage infection. Since these phages have different growth rate and plaque morphologies, we would expect different possible interactions with the antibiotic, Vancomycin. If these results show an increased susceptibility to Vancomycin in the presence of phage, then research will continue allowing more antibiotics to be tested.

Inclusion has many positive effects on every student involved. We are going to specifically target the positive effects on the nondisabled population when students with exceptionalities are included in the general education classroom. We will show statistics on why this is important and in what areas the students excelled the most.

  During the past year at the MSUM Planetarium, I conducted a full evaluation of the standards of all the shows we offer to schools and the public. We had noticed that there was a lack of educational information on our website informing teachers on the shows we offered. It was decided that I would evaluate the shows for state educational standards.  This involved watching all of theses shows, evaluating them for standards in multiple states and content areas, and putting them in a convenient format for educators. I also wrote several shows, many of which focus on the mythology of the constellations in the sky and the namesake of the planets. This has allowed us to expand our ideas of what a planetarium can be used for. Instead of only focusing on the scientific concepts in our night sky, we are able to appeal to a broader audience. 

As technology continues to develop, its complexity also increases. Merriam-Webster defines technology as the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area and the capability given by the practical application of knowledge. These definitions suggest that technology is designed toward practicality and simplicity; yet, many of the innovations emerging today are increasingly complex to use. Why does complexity grow and simplicity diminish? This research focuses on smart technologies and users interacting with them in modern society. In addition to describing trends occurring from 2000 to present, this analysis examines the economic and ethical implications of designing technologies with shortened life spans that users are unable to repair.

MinnesotaCare is a health care program for Minnesotans with low incomes. It is funded by a state tax on Minnesota hospitals, health care providers, program funding, enrollee premiums, and cost sharing. MinnesotaCare pays for a variety of services like doctor visits, prescriptions, and hospital stays. This paper examines how the policy originated; how it is implemented; current debates on the policy; and how politics in Minnesota affected its creation and how it continues to affect its implementation.

There has been great debate over the effects of video games on aggression and violence. Some of the research states playing video games increases violent tendencies and aggression in our youth (Greitemeyer 2018; Dowsett & Jackson 2019; J.-H. Lin 2013). Further, this research has indicated long-term effects. This study was designed to test whether playing as a team can reduce the short-term increases in aggression. Team competition has been shown to be a positive outlet for aggression in many individuals (Crouse Waddell, J., & Wei Peng 2014). If the aggression experienced by players is reduced as a result of playing in teams rather than as solo individuals, this may help reduce other adverse impacts as well.

               When California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act, many states are now asking whether it’s time for their state government to enact a similar act. The California Consumer Privacy Act is designed to protect and enhance consumer’s rights by allowing them to know what personal data has been collected about them, whether that data was sold or who has access to that data, and the ability to deny sale of that data. This paper examines how the policy made its way through the state legislature and what political factors affected its creation and are likely to affect is implementation. Then It’ll examine how other states and the industry have reacted to the policy and the debate on whether it’s up to the government to protect consumers or the consumer to protect themselves.

American citizens consume hard drugs at a rate unrivaled by most other countries; this has made the U.S. the foremost market for organizations dedicated to the production and importation of narcotics such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. Amidst these trends, the U.S. uses an aggressive approach to counter-narcotics interdiction, employing a mixture of law enforcement, intelligence, and military strategies to combat the importation of illicit narcotics into the country. Continued expansion of U.S. drug markets, despite these efforts, signals an opportunity for directing some interdiction efforts toward the physical movement of narcotics via commercial supply chains. Using publicly available data from 1996 to 2017, this research combines economic theory and logistical analysis of the narcotics trade to identify the primary U.S. intermodal freight hubs utilized by Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). By identifying these specific intermodal hubs, law enforcement can focus their interdiction efforts to a few, high-volume drug transshipment points and execute an alternative strategy in the U.S. War on Drugs.

               Performing arts is a specialized branch of sports medicine. Often times these artists will behave the same as a regular athlete, continuing to play through their pain or injury. This literature review takes a look at common injuries, prevalence rates, and prevention methods of a number of performing arts. Those performing arts include dance, cheerleading, gymnastics, musicians, and figure skaters. Many of the common injuries discussed include muscle strains, sprains, and overuse injuries. Depending on the area of the body and certain position(s) for some performing arts, the prevalence rates will vary across the spectrum from injury to injury and art to art. A common theme found within the literature was the lack of education and prevention among healthcare providers and coaches/instructors in a variety of areas. Other mechanisms for prevention include proper techniques and equipment. Although each performing art is unique, they are very similar to other sports in terms of injuries, prevalence rates, and prevention.

Currently, 13.4% (approximately 43,646,370) of the individuals living in the US were born in a different country (US Census, 2017). About 1 in 5 Americans speak a language other than English in their home (Batalova and Zong, 2016). The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) “Bilingual service delivery” (n.d.) document outlines four terms that are commonly used to describe bilingual individuals: simultaneous bilingualism, sequential (or successive) bilingualism, dual language learners and English language learners (Bilingual service delivery, n.d.). Individuals who are bilingual or multilingual have many different needs that an SLP must take into consideration when assessing, diagnosing, and treating (Kambanaros and van Steenbrugge, 2004). The following are some of the characteristics and phenomena regarding second language acquisition: Language inference/transfer, the “silent period,” codeswitching, and language attrition. SLPs need to learn to assess, diagnose, and treat individuals who are bilingual or multilingual. Five types of assessment approaches can be used with bilingual individuals, standardized (norm-referenced) assessment, criterion-referenced assessment, language processing measures, dynamic assessment, and a sociocultural approach (White and Jin, 2010). Part of providing quality SLP services is determining whether there is a language deficit or a language difference present (Kambanaros and van Steenbrugge, 2004). To determine the presence of a language disorder versus a language difference, an SLP must take into account the individual’s ethnicity, culture, race, and nationality (White and Jin, 2010). Speech-language pathologists must also keep in mind the phenomena that accompany second language acquisition (i.e., language inference/transfer, the silent period, code-switching, and language attrition) (Bilingual service delivery, n.d.).

Data analytics and data science have been been prominent topic that have been contributing to the rise in machines and alggorithms to maximize the efficieny of analyzing data. Previous research has shown that various algorithms used in data analytics have been altered and tested to figure out which algorithm and/or machine works best for the corresponding dataset or problem. However, how do these algorithms differ from one another? How can we use these algorithms to analyze data and to develop a corelation in our day to day lives? By comparing multiple existing algorithms, I aim to give a better outlook to what these functions and equations actually do and find the most efficient algorithms. In addition to that, I aim to show that by using certain algorithms, we are able to analyze a specific dataset and find corelations that exist. 

This literature review focused on the factors that influence how English language learners develop and use English pragmatic language norms. Pragmatic language, or the manipulation of language to fit specific social situations, is an important aspect in learning a second language as the inability to do so may make the nonnative English speaker appear inappropriate or offensive (Gomez-Laich, 2016). Although research into the development of second language pragmatics is relatively new, common themes developed across the literature. The amount of time spent interacting with native speakers and the instruction methods used to teach English language learners were found to be factors that influence how pragmatic language was acquired (Sanchez-Hernandez & Alcon, Soler, 2018; Taguchi, 2011; Kim, 2017; Ghobadi & Fahim, 2009). Factors that influenced nonnative English speakers’ use of English pragmatic language included the individual’s cultural identity, their social status, and the social status of their communication partners (Kim, 2014; Locastro, 2001; Liao, 2009). While the current literature available approaches English pragmatic language from an educational perspective (Gomez-Laich, 2016;Kim, 2014; Locastro, 2001; Liao, 2009; Sanchez-Hernandez & Alcon, Soler, 2018; Taguchi, 2011; Kim, 2017; Ghobadi & Fahim, 2009) , this literature review has direct implications for speech-language pathologists, as these professionals are responsible for diagnosing and treating pragmatic language disorders.

This paper aims to objectively explain and evaluate the creation, implementation, and influence of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also abbreviated as DACA. Before the main body of the paper there will be a brief introduction outlining general information on the history of the American immigration system. For the main body it will first begin with an examination of the origins of this policy to understand why and when it was created. Next, an overview will be supplied of the legislation’s content and how it is affecting the status quo. Finally, an evaluation of the viability of this legislation for long term implementation. 

This paper is an examination of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed in 2010. In the paper I will be exploring different topics related to the law, including the circumstances and process leading to its introduction and passage, the actors involved in the support and opposition of the law and the reasoning given by each side. Besides explaining the politics and process of how the proposal became law, this paper examines the implementation and evaluations of its efficacy.

Abstract:  The gut microbiome is a collection of microbes and microorganisms which semi-permanently reside within and around our intestinal tract and establish a complex symbiotic relationship with our own cells and physiological processes. These microorganisms are an important aspect of our immune system in that they facilitate the formation of a unique set of adaptive responses to a variety of antigens. Each individual has a distinct gut microbiome which develops from a variety of factors including gender, age, genetics, bile acids, and diet. Research has shown that the composition of the gut microbiome plays a prominent role in pancreatic cancer propagation as well as preventative foundations. Research on pancreatic tumors in mice have suggested a very strong causative link between microbiome bacteria and long-term survival of pancreatic cancer by experimentation using fecal transplants from long-term survivors vs. patients with active pancreatic cancer. A hypothesized mechanism involving modulation of the action of cytotoxic T-Cells on the tumor by gut bacteria was also strongly established by introducing regulatory antibodies into a subset of the mice who received fecal transplants from long-term survivors, which eliminated the benefits observed in the control group. We will set out to investigate details of the mechanism by which an adaptive immune response to pancreatic tumors is facilitated and enhanced by the unique set of microorganisms in the gut and the mechanism by which organisms from the gut microbiome can infiltrate and integrate with the microbiome of the tumor itself to produce these responses. We propose that the complex interaction of the tumor microbiome with the gut microbiome will influence the recognition and sufficient adaptation of the immune system to the tumor and that therefore, further research will be able to develop new clinical methods by taking advantage of these interactions. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants are nearly everywhere you look in today’s society. With the use of a Raspberry Pi computer and the Google Application Programming Interface (API), an AI assistant can be created. Much like Google Home, this AI assistant can help people with everyday tasks, such as handling requests, controlling smart devices, answering questions, or even telling jokes.

Diabetes Mellitus is a disease in which the body either doesn’t produce, produces very little, or becomes immune to insulin. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is becoming an increasing problem around the world and is one of the reasons we are looking into this disease for this experiment. One potential risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus is ethnicity. Studies conducted in the field of Human Physiology have found certain ethnic predispositions concerning Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. A study which took data from a CDC 2011 survey concluded that amongst adults older than 20, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is most prevalent in the following ethnicities, in descending order; native Americans, Non-Hispanic black Americans, Hispanic Americans overall, Asian Americans, Non-Hispanic white Americans, and Alaska natives. Another study showed socioeconomic status related to ethnicity in that people with a higher socioeconomic status were more likely to be better educated and more likely to prevent type 2 diabetes mellitus. Additional data gathered by the EDEG suggests that Type 2 Diabetes displays greater prevalence in Maltese and Indian populations. People of Japanese, Chinese, and European ethnicities displayed a relatively low prevalence relative to the former group. Essentially, the data collected shows a disparity in the correlation between ethnicity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus due to the varying conditions at the national and international level. Additionally, socioeconomic status and lifestyle choices are more likely to play a greater role than initially thought in affecting prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus amongst various ethnicities.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis is a type of lung disease that is progressive and irreversible as of right now. Idiopathic means that there is no known cause for the disease. IPF causes scarring in the lungs making the lungs stiff and making it progressively harder to breathe. In pulmonary fibrosis overproduction of collagen can lead to scarring in the lungs, and collagen production is stimulated by TGF-beta. As of right now there are two drugs that are being used to help people with IPF. The drugs are nintedanib and pirfenidone. Both of these drugs are considered anti-fibrotic drugs, as they can reduce new scar tissue from forming in the lungs and slow decline in lung function. I will be using Desmethyl Dihydro Antipyrine on A549 lung epithelial cells. Desmethyl Dihydro Antipyrine, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is similar to pirfenidone. I will be tracking TGF-beta levels in the cell cultures exposed to the Desmethyl Dihydro Antipyrine. Antipyrine and pirfenidone will be used as positive controls. If Desmethyl Dihydro Antipyrine is found to be more effective than pirfenidone in helping suppress TGF-beta levels, then it can be used as an alternative to pirfenidone or nintedanib and can be used to help people who have IPF. 

The time of day has been found to play a huge role in the abundance of mosquitoes. Temperature also has been found to play a role in mosquito abundance. This brings up the question of the how much of an effect temperature and time of day have on mosquito abundance. The datasets that I will be using are single aspirated air temperature and mosquitoes sampled from CO2 traps. From those datasets I will be using the abundance of mosquitoes, the air temperature, time of day, location and date. Both datasets are from NEON, which is National Ecological Observation Network. I plan to do an exploratory data analysis of the change in temperature and the time of day and compare it to the abundance of mosquitoes on a given date. If we know what temperature and time of day mosquitoes are most active, as well as the date, then this information can help people who study mosquitoes know when the best time is to capture certain types of mosquitoes.

Perceived Fairness in Group Contributions?? 
 
This study explored?perceived?fairness of contributions?within?the confines of a contrived social dilemma. Participants were given?the opportunity to cooperate with other group members to reach a shared goal?by contributing points to a central resource pool.?57 undergraduate students at Minnesota State University Moorhead participated?in a?multi-round?group?decision-making?game, with both instruction and incentive to?achieve first place. All non-participant?competitors were controlled by pre-programmed computer strategies.?The inclusion of a round-based format allowed us to ask participants, at the start of each round, how large a contribution would be fair for all group members to give, including themselves and the non-participant competitors. At the end of each round, participants were made aware of their place and score in relation to other group members.?The findings show that the current state of winning or losing alters the participants’ perception of fairness regarding their group members’ contributions,?but not their own. Participants’?ratings of?personal?fair contributions?did not change?depending on?participant?place. However,?participants’ ratings of group members’?fair contributions?did?change, depending on participant place.?These findings suggest that participants perceived it to be fair for their group members to wholly subsidize the participants’ potential victories, sparing themselves any expense.

Studying abroad provides a number of unique and transformative benefits to students.  In addition to the classroom experience, students are immersed in a new culture and go through intense and sometimes surprising kinds of growth and change.  Students with three different study abroad backgrounds will share their academic, cultural, and personal responses, closing with how the experience will help them in their future job searches and careers.

Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health issue that is estimated to cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050. The overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial treatments has exacerbated the danger as the overuse allows bacteria to evolve resistance. The resistance can be passed along in bacteria through mutation, conjugation, transformation, transduction, and transposable elements. These newly resistant bacteria may become superbugs that develop widespread resistance to available antimicrobials. In this study, we compared the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance present in our houses and backyards. Our study began with the PARE Project (Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment). The PARE project is a citizen science project that collects data to map tetracycline resistance hotspots. We compared the frequency of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, both indoors and out since the Gram status of the bacteria correlates with antimicrobial efficacy. Our data analysis has suggested that a difference exists between both indoor and outdoor samples and between gram-positive and gram-negative samples. This study looks to finding the current level of resistance within the Fargo-Moorhead area and to spread awareness about the effect of antimicrobial resistance.

Over consumption of resources, climate change and lack of care for our environment are ever increasing issues facing our world. Conservation is a very important aspect of dealing with these issues as its purpose is to preserve and protect the resources and species we have left. Without strong and enforced conservation methods, many industries and countries would consume as much as possible with little to no regard for the environmental cost in exchange for profit. Costa Rica has been an outstanding example of a country leading in conservation and some of its methods could likely be of great use when applied to other regions. To better understand how Costa Rica is so effective at protecting its land, species and resources we are traveling there to observe and note how they approach conservation and see what we can learn from them that could potentially be helpful in the US as well as around the world. To explore this we will be traveling to a variety of parks and reserves such as Monte Verde, Cabo Blanco and Santa Rosa. We will be discussing some of Costa Rica’s methods of conservation and how they maintain such high biodiversity as well as the benefits of this. Adopting some of Costa Rica’s methods or adapting them to fit other circumstances could greatly help the conservation effort worldwide.

One of the biggest problems in the lives of many LGBTQIA+ students in regards to their schooling relates to bullying.  The results from a 2013 Human Rights Campaign survey of over 10,000 LGBTQ+ 13 to 17-year old students, showed that trouble at school or bullying at school was the second biggest problem for them, only behind having a non-accepting family (Growing up LBGT in America, 2013). The purpose of this study was to find trends in school climate and work toward helping teachers further develop a school climate where LGBTQIA+ students can focus on schooling, college and money instead of bullying and feeling left out. 
 
The study included an anonymous survey using Qualtrics, sent to teachers in K-12 education, asking about their current classroom practices and how they are LGBTQIA+ inclusive. The data from the survey was compiled and analyzed to see how teachers support the LGBTQIA+ community. *
 
* The survey is still open at this time – proposed closing date of February 29, 2020.
 
Human Rights Campaign (HRC).(2013) Growing up LGBT in America. Retrieved from http://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/Growing-Up-LGBT-in-America_Report.pdf
 

Stratigraphic species distribution is a key environmental indicator, particularly when extant corollaries can be identified.  This single site survey focuses on species changes through time of aquatic and terrestrial mollusks at the MSUM Regional Science Center (“RSC”).  The goal was to better understand the stratigraphic sequences associated with varying deposits in the region in order to refine the environmental conditions present.  Understanding species changes through the stratigraphic record refines the state of the local environment.

Excavation and bulk sample collection provided a large quantity of molluscan remains.  A number of different aquatic and terrestrial species have been identified in these collections.  Past excavations by archaeologists researching the region have turned up similar assemblages which have remained largely unexamined to this time.  Examining the species, and through further excavations focusing on species distributions, it is hoped that these specimens can be utilized as another stratigraphic tool in site characterization.

The project provides a baseline for ongoing exploration and refinement of the environmental development of the area, as well as developing another field tool for use in stratigraphic site identification.

Understanding landscape evolution is critical for geologic and archaeologic research. Paleotopography in relation to geomorphic history, has the potential to enhance predictive models for locating archaeological sites. This study collaborates efforts of researchers at MSUM, Wisconsin Eau Claire, and North Dakota State University focused on landscape evolution at the MSUM Regional Science Center (“RSC”).

Study sites occur primarily in the incised valley margin of a glacio/deltaic complex developed on the eastern margin of glacial Lake Agassiz. Modern soils developed on aeolian sheet sands directly overlying fluvial gravels and sediments interpreted as offshore bar forms. These deposits lie west of a major shoreline of glacial Lake Agassiz. Analysis has included sedimentological analyses of pit excavations, description of river cuts, examination of sediment cores, and sieve analysis of bulk sediment samples.

Field examination has identified buried and partially developed soil horizons, which may be important for artifact recovery dating to the Early Archaic. Proximity of fluvial gravels act as an erosional barrier preserving paleo-topographic highs (offshore bars). Thicker aeolian sands accumulate in close proximity and appear to favor the development of buried horizons. Both OSL and 14C dates are being analyzed to build a chronology for correlation of horizons. Four OSL dates have been obtained at the base of the aeolian sheet sands at three localities dating to 8340, 8300, 8500, and 12,520 (BP). The offshore bars are a key factor in predicting the location of archaeological sites and understanding how the landscape has changed over time.

   The aim of this presentation is to examine student protests on MSUM, NDSU and Concordia from 1966 to 1971, in an effort to better understand how personal factors among students and faculty on the three campuses made them similar or different to each other and to other colleges in the United States. With the reasons behind the dissension being as varied as the students dissenting, religion, creed, race, and family all played a part in motivating students to protest the War in Vietnam. Throughout the period, the involvement of the United States in that region of the globe went from a relatively small operation consisting mainly of military advisors to drafting young men out of college to meet the manpower needs of a full blown war. As a direct result, many young students chose to voice their opposition to the conflict, which was responsible for their peers, friends and family being sent over to Vietnam. 

Paper was invented in China before the Christian era. Over time, paper made its way westward toward Europe and the new world. The ways paper has been used has evolved from pragmatic applications such as documenting records, to manufacturing books and other printed matter, to being adapted as a versatile medium in art. This paper will examine the role of paper in contemporary art as well as some select contemporary papermaking techniques. Specifically, I will focus on the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA) as well as the International Paper Art Biennale in order to analyze how contemporary artists make use of paper in their practice. IAMPA is the leading organization for paper artists and its central focus is paper’s role as an art form and as contemporary artistic medium. Given the global nature of paper, the headquarters of this organization does not have a fixed location, rather it rotates according to where the president of the association resides, changing location with each subsequent president. In addition to the IAMPA which supports artists working with paper, there are a few designated biennials that exhibit work of contemporary paper artists. A Biennial is a perennial exhibition that occurs every two years and for the case studies examined in this paper, I will focus on the Lucca Biennale held in Italy and the Paper Biennial Rijswijk held in the Netherlands as well as the Biennial held in Shanghai, China.

POL341 Abstract
            I will be examining the Affordable Care Act otherwise known as ObamaCare. I will be describing, in detail, the alignment of the political parties with regards to A.C.A. and why those parties hold those views. In addition, I will be detailing the origins of this policy, following it from a campaign promise up to the passing and implementation of the policy.  I will be explaining why the policy remains such a hot-button issue, especially with the current administration and the immediate and long-term consequences of this polarizing piece of legislation. Also, I will explain why this policy came into effect and what issues ObamaCare addresses. Finally, I will explain how politics has played a large role in every aspect of this policy, from the agenda-setting phases to formulation and implementation. This policy remains a polarizing issue.

Viewing sand grain sizes will result in what transport is most prominent in relating environmental factors that took place at a given point in geological time. Various sand grains sizes will indicate if the climate at an instant in time of deposition will determine relative climate.
The distribution of the curve would show the main environmental processes happening at the time of depositions and how these climatic factors allowed organisms to thrive. The data that was collected was sieve analyses containing seven different bulk ranges, that was conducted at four sites at the Regional Science Center. The plan for this experiment is to look at the overall size of the bulk samples in each stratigraphic layer to explain the main environmental factor when the sand grains were being deposited at a given time. There are seven different sand grain size analyses that will be sieved and weighted to get a distribution of what grains were being deposited, in which the larger the grain the more fluvial or lacustrine and smaller grains leading to be an alluvial process of deposition. What this experiment is going to draw from is what is matched in what geologists find throughout the region at the same time in the deposits of earlier years of the formation of the Lake Agassiz, later periods, and the Holocene maximum. Then using the data of what climatic factors were accumulating the specific sand grain sizes at the time will match up to organisms that are seen in the stratigraphic layers.

The ocean’s water covers over 70% of the Earth, so there is no surprise that Costa Rica would be surrounded by water. In the saltwater there are over thousands of species that reside there. Some of those creatures’ habitats are coral reefs, and those reefs have been dying over decades. Recent conservation has been leading to helping restore the reefs to their glory but to no prevail as of yet. The reefs are often known as the “rainforests of the sea” for how crucial they are. The reefs provide protection, sanctuary, and even a way of life for other fish. Through the warming of the atmosphere it raises the temperature of the water which the zooxanthellae leave the coral resulting in the corals becoming “bleached”. Because of climate change the reefs are being affected. We will be discussing upon the significance of coral reefs, why they are important to the ecosystem in which they live, why they are dying, and how can conservation help aid in the restoration of these living reefs and the protection within.

 Diabetes mellitus is a chronic condition in which the body is unable to properly utilize insulin that is produced in response to glucose production. Type II diabetes affects 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 20 and is the 7th leading cause of death in the US. For the human physiology lab, students took a lifestyle self-assessment to analyze their risk factors. These include fast-food and soda intake, stress levels, activity level, along with physiological measures of risk such as weight, BMI, waist to chest or shoulder for female and male respectively, and ethnicity.  Students took baseline measurements of blood glucose and recorded them. Students then ingested a standard amount of glucose and waited approximately one hour. After the one hour waiting period, students took another measurement of blood glucose and recorded that as well. The results of the experiment after data analysis showed no statistically significant results. The sample of individuals taken is not representative of the population as a whole and is instead primarily young, healthy, and white students which is not an accurate sample size of the United States as a whole. Type II diabetes is a prevalent condition in the United States. The research conducted in human physiology lab showed no statistically significant results due to the homogenous nature of the sample size.

I will be exploring the question of how the change of climate over a seasonal cycle affects the abundance of Northern Cardinals in the Fargo, ND area. The Northern Cardinal is most abundant in the Southeast of the U.S. but have been expanding more north over the last couple decades. The data that I will be exploring comes from the eBird basic data set from eBird science. To answer the question, I will be using exploratory data analysis to see the Cardinals abundance over 10 years in our local area of Fargo, ND and then comparing that data to the climate over the last 10 years as well. I will answer this question in hope to observe any patterns related to climate change, and the abundance of Northern Cardinals will increase in the north.

This qualitative research study attempts to achieve a broader understanding of the experiences of college students with autism and the factors that influence their success in higher education. Using a phenomenological approach, 4 female college students diagnosed with autism were interviewed using an in-depth, semi-structured format to gain a deeper understanding of their higher education experiences and how it impacted their success in college. The final assertion was determined to be that adults with autism find success in higher education based on an integration of personal and interpersonal factors, small-scale educational factors, and large-scale educational factors.

My research explores the roots of religious dissent in Seventeenth Century America and the internal fight for religious freedom in the authoritarian Puritanism of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Antinomian Controversy in 1630s Massachusetts represents one of the most vigorous fights over religious freedom in early America. Through research and analysis of a wide array of sermons, letters, trials, and court decisions from the time period the issues become clear: the debate over religious doctrine and the political fight for the control of the future of the colony and New England. Understanding these critical years of dissent and conflict in American history is fundamental in understanding religion, freedom, gender, morality, and power in the early years of a developing American society. I argue that the Antinomian Dilemma of the 17th century is fundamental in understanding the future of the fundamental right of religious freedom in America.

In modern daily life in the west there are predominantly two types of social spaces. There is the secluded space of the private home and the collectivist space of the places we circulate in outside of our homes – stores, coffee shops, and workplaces. The latter spaces are largely consumerist and exist to make a profit, and furthermore establish a power dynamic between producer, supplier and consumer. Those without means or privilege usually aren’t welcomed or have much power in such spaces. However, there is also another space designated by urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg as a “Third Place.” Such a place is inclusive and accepting of all people regardless of social and economic status or their ethnic, racial, and gender identities or sexual orientation. A particularly compelling example of such a “Third Place” is the public library.

Researchers, including James Elmborg, have discussed the role of public libraries as “third places.” Other scholars including Sam Demas and Jeffrey A. Scherer, approach the design of libraries as integral to their community-building qualities. The goal of this paper will be to bridge the gap between the “Third Place” theory and library design. I will explore the emergence of the public library system in the region, as well as the current status of local libraries, and the factors that determine seeking and building unique community in these social spaces.

The South Korean pop (K-Pop) genre is unique in its globalization and popularity, and can use its reach to influence gender identity at an international level. The purpose of this research is to determine if K-Pop music videos from the past decade reinforce or challenge South Korean gender stereotypes. South Korean gender stereotypes were generated from existing scholarship and formed the category bases for which a coding scheme was developed. The K-Pop music videos that were selected for the project are the most popular (gained the most views on YouTube) each year between 2009 and 2019. This project hypothesizes that the results of the research will show that by 2019 there will be less instances of represented stereotypes depicted in K-Pop music videos, as the genre has been progressing and evolving to include visuals that are, nevertheless, more challenging to viewers.

American Cooking Shows: How Gender Stereotypes are Reinforced in Chopped

Gender roles and related stereotypes are a large part of American society, influencing our everyday lives in both positive and negative ways. With the Food Network channel drawing in an average of one million viewers a day, cooking shows have become even more relevant in American popular culture. Examining the representation of gender stereotypes present in cooking television provides a unique insight on gender representation in America in general. Using content analysis of the first and last aired seasons of the popular American cooking show Chopped, the study codes for instances of gender stereotype reinforcement (such as the chefs’ motivations for preparing their meals) and the progressive inclusion of women as competitors and judges on the show. We hypothesize that the last season of Chopped will not have as many stereotypical gender role reinforcements as its first season, and that it will also be more inclusive of gender. We recognize that there are many different types of cooking shows that air in America, but our study will only look at the most viewed competition cooking show in the country.

Emx2 is a transcription factor that is commonly associated with the development of the primary visual area of the brain. The removal of Emx2 causes a caudal shift of primary sensory areas in the brain which leads to a decrease in size of the primary visual area (V1) within the mammalian cerebral cortex. Previously, we found that there was a decrease in size of the thalamus in mice with Emx2 knock-outs during the visual critical period. Currently, the research being conducted focuses on determining behavioral changes in mice with Emx2 deletions in the brain using the looming visual stimulus test. The looming visual stimulus test is used to stimulate a reaction from an object appearing in the subject’s peripheral vision resulting in either a freeze or flight response. In previous experiments, post-natal day 18 (P18) and post-natal day 38 (P38) were tested because the critical period of visual development in mice lied in between these ages. Although reliable data was collected from the P38 mice, the P18 mice did not consistently respond to the stimulus. Therefore, we are now testing post-natal day 20 (P20) mice to determine if they will give a more consistent response to the stimulus.  During the looming visual stimulus test we will collect and compare the type of response, the latency of the response to the stimulus, and the duration of response.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds migration covers a vast distance in North America and their breeding grounds is in the US and a large portion is in the eastside of the upper Midwest from about May to September. However, the annual temperatures for the Midwest have increased a lot over the recent years and I wanted to see if there was a change in hummingbirds’ migration to their breeding destination. Has the duration of ruby-throated hummingbirds been staying longer in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan during the breeding season as the years progress and have the number of individuals counted increased? I will be using data from the eBird basic dataset to answer my question. I plan to look at variables such as location and date to determine when ruby-throated hummingbird arrive in the spring at the beginning if breeding season and when they leave at the end. I will look at this data from 2014 when the data started to be collected to see if over the last four years there has been any change in when the hummingbirds arrive and depart from the upper Midwest including Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. I will also be looking at the abundance of hummingbirds in this area to see of it has increased or decreased over the past four years. I expect to find a change in ruby-throated hummingbird arrival and departure because of the increasing temperatures in the Midwest due to climate change.

The Knife River Indian Villages Historic Site (KNRI), located near Stanton, North Dakota, includes three major Hidatsa settlements: Awatixa Village, Awatixa Xi'e Village, and Hidatsa Village. The 2019 MSUM Field School in Geoarchaeology conducted investigations at Awatixa Village as part of a collaborative project led by the Paleocultural Research Group (PCRG) and the National Park Service (NPS). This fieldwork focused on site assessment using geophysical surveys and cutbank profiling. Awatixa Village is located along the bank of the Knife River and was occupied from 1797-1834. Approximately 30 earth lodge impressions are still visible at the surface. Our research focuses on one of these earth lodge locations known as House Six. We have analyzed magnetic susceptibility measurements collected over the surface of the house with a Bartington Instruments MS2 meter and MS2D sensor. We have also investigated correlations with surveys conducted by Dr. Kenneth Kvamme (University of Arkansas) and Steven De Vore (Midwest Archaeological Center, NPS). We compared this data to historical records on house construction. Using this comparison and considering the geophysical properties of several distinct areas within the house has allowed us to generate hypotheses on activity areas within House Six.

The Biesterfeldt site is an archaeological site in southeastern North Dakota. It is a large early historic period (circa 1724-1780) Indian village that lies on an alluvial terrace on the southern perimeter of an abandoned meander scar of the Sheyenne River. The village consisted of approximately seventy circular earthen lodges, with a central plaza that is surrounded by a ditch. This site was previously studied by Lewis, Strong, Wood, and Michlovic et al. Early investigations came to the conclusion that the site was occupied by an Algonquian group known as the Cheyenne. Michlovic et al. recently undertook new archaeological research on the site as well as restudying the previous investigations. This poster reexamines Wood and Michlovic et al., tests Wood's Cheyenne hypothesis, and proposes alternative possibilities for the Biesterfeldt site. Through an analysis on location, houses, ceramics, historical records, and linguistics, we will examine each possibility. From our research, we consider four possibilities for the Biesterfeldt site. The first possibility is that the origins of the village are Arikara. The second is it was a multi-tribal trading center. The third is it was a refugee community and the final possibility we addresss is that its origin is Cheyenne as proposed by Wood.

We created an interactive Shiny app in R to help train field research technicians and students in ecology classes at MSUM. The app allows a user to select one of the 144 bird species a bird species that breed in Clay County, MN and then scrapes information about that species from a variety of websites including Cornell University’s All About Birds https://www.allaboutbirds.org/ and the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas https://mnbirdatlas.org/.  Tabs provide information about the identification, natural history, and distribution of the bird species.  The app also uses tables and maps to show the results of past bird surveys at the MSUM Regional Science Center and the Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area.  The app is already being used to train MSUM field research technicians who will conduct bird surveys this summer and will be used as a resource by students taking BIOL 490 Field Ornithology in the summer.

A literature review was conducted to determine the use and benefits of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) with patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) when implemented by a speech-language pathologist (SLP).Patients in the ICU often have difficulty verbally communicating due to a variety of factors, one primary reason being mechanical intubation (Mobasheri et al., 2016). Limited communication leads to frustration, anxiety, stress, and depression for the patient, caregivers, and staff (Radtke, Baumann, Garrett, & Happ, 2011). It is important for patients in the ICU to express medical needs, thoughts, and feelings. A review of the literature related to communication in the ICU supports early, SLP guided assessment and implementation of AAC with patients in the ICU(Mobasheri et al., 2016). Augmentative and alternative communication diminishes the patient’s negative thoughts and feelings while increasing their ability to express wants and needs and interactions with others (Carruthers, Astin, & Munro, 2017). Speech-language pathologists have specialized skills in communication, but additional healthcare staff and family are also essential resources when deciding on individualized AAC tools (Magnus & Turkington, 2006; Broyles, Tate, & Happ, 2012). Providing patients in the ICU means of communication is a multidisciplinary team effort (Magnus & Turkington, 2006). Augmentative and alternative communicationtools and devices are customizable to fit the patient’s present and future communication needs. However, healthcare staff and family members/caregivers should be educated by the SLP regarding communication strategies (Radtke et al., 2011; Magnus & Turkington, 2006). Implementation of AAC by an SLP with patients in the ICU also aids with carryover and use in other environments during transitional care (Cerantola & Happ, 2012).

I am proposing that we get a better understanding of how far Artificial Intelligence has come, and figure out a good time frame for when machines could totally replace humans working in cyber security. Currently as humans we are statistically more prone to making more errors than machines do, and the thought is that if we were to develop a smart enough AI we wouldn’t need human security but only machine monitoring to detect the possible problems. A few issues that can land us into trouble is that there would be a great risk of hackers, hacking into the AI to use it to their benefit. Although there are risks the greater side is the reward with this project. We will team up with a company handling network security and another with artificial intelligence development and as we familiarize the AI with the typical functions of the day to day systems it will know what the regularities are and for whatever reason it senses an issue or something as a unique IP Address it will detect it as an intruder. The plan to bring this together will require a lot of team work, and support.

This project reviews audience-presenter interactions in the planetarium setting based on the formative assessment ESRU (Elicit response, Student responds, Recognizing response, Using info to support student learning) cycle model developed by Ruiz-Primo and Furtak.  We surveyed what is currently happening in planetariums across the U.S. and determine whether there was a need for further research and professional development support for planetarium educators.

By measuring the voltage difference of the human body from the center of the chest to shoulder and shoulder to waist simultaneously, we were able to measure the electrocardiogram (EKG) of the human heart. The EKG allows us to find the components and magnitude of the electric dipole moment of the heart. We found the maximum magnitude of the heart’s electric dipole moment was 1.0 ± 0.5 × 10-15 A m.

Erikka Starr

American White Pelican Abundance Changing Over Time

            The American white pelican is one of the largest birds in North America, migrating from the southeast and southwest all the way to the northeast and northwest covering many miles. They tend to breed mainly in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Manitoba that is what I based my question off of. My question is how American White Pelican abundance has changed over time in the Fargo/Moorhead area over the years. I will use the eBird Basic Dataset from https://ebird.org/science/download-ebird-data-products and the eBird Status and Trends Model Results from https://cornelllabofornithology.github.io/ebirdst/articles/ebirdst-introduction.html. In my exploratory data analysis, I will compare a few variables which include, the number of pelicans, the location, and date/time. With the results I hope to better understand their migration patterns, breeding distribution, and relative abundance.

Palliative care is an interdisciplinary approach to treating a person with a life-threatening illness. The palliative care approach focuses on offering the patient comfort and physical independence for as long as possible, until he or she reaches the end of their life. The palliative care team is made up of a variety of medical professionals including, but not limited to, the physician, nurse, nutritionist, pharmacist and other therapists (speech-language, occupational and physical). This presentation will discuss the speech-language pathologists’ role in palliative care: communication, cognition and swallowing.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are substances that mimic or interfere with naturally occurring hormones. EDCs have harmful effects on aquatic organisms, producing developmental, behavioral, and sexual dimorphism abnormalities. Synthetic estrogen is a common EDC that can be introduced to aquatic environments through agricultural run-off (pesticides), road run-off (plasticizers), and wastewater treatment plants. This study compares the hatching rates of medeka embryos (rice fish) in three different water treatments: upstream of the Fargo Wastewater Treatment Plant, downstream of the Fargo Wastewater Treatment Plant, and dechlorinated tap water, which will serve as a control. 20 medeka embryos will be placed in a petri dish containing treatment waters (60 total) and raised to hatching, with time to hatch being recorded. We predict the time to hatch will occur more quickly in the embryos exposed to downstream water treatment due to the higher levels of total estrogen.

Capture-and-release is a largely used and effective way that scientists use to collect data on different species. For our study, we used floating turtle traps to capture painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) near Rollag, Minnesota. The research was conducted in late May until late August or early September from 2001-2019. Multiple traps were set upon 3 different nearby sloughs and were checked every-other-day. Carapace length and curvature, plastron length, mass, sex, and age were recorded for each capture. We documented recaptures based on ID from scute notches, PIT tags, and, for very small turtles, fingernail polish designs. The objective of this poster is to document movement patterns of painted turtles between 2006 (when we first started using PIT tags) and 2019 and see if there were any physical (size or sex) characteristics of the turtles who showed the most frequent movement between sloughs. We will also compare what time of year the most movement occurred between the 3 sloughs and make inferences based on this. We want to document how much movement occurs early in the summer during breeding season (i.e., May-June) and later in the summer when breeding is finished. We will also document how much movement occurred between years, i.e., how much movement happened after our trapping season ended in the August/September and the following May when we started trapping again. Movements during these “off-season” months might be associated with finding hibernation sites. We will also see if any particular slough(s) are associated with more turtles moving to or from it.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when blood glucose levels are elevated, and the body cannot combat the change because cells have become insulin resistant. Stress has shown evidence of both directly and indirectly affecting the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and increasing its severity. One of the direct effects is caused by the release of the hormone cortisol. This hormone is responsible for gluconeogenesis which directly increases blood sugar. Catecholamine is another group of chemicals that is released when an individual is stressed. These chemicals reduce insulin secretion and glycogenolysis. Other effects include changes in the neuroendocrine pathway, in specific cortisol output, heightened inflammation and the dysregulation of the cardiovascular system. Stress management for those with, or at risk of developing the disease has been shown to benefit patients as well. This further points towards stress as being a direct risk factor. Since stress is controllable, stress management is a possible method of treatment. The indirect effects of stress include the likelihood of developing high blood pressure, obesity, and depression which have also been directly linked to type 2 diabetes. While stress has been confirmed to be an indirect cause of type 2 diabetes, whether it is a direct cause has been argued. Regardless of being direct or indirect, stress has been linked to being a risk factor of the disease. By lowering everyday stress levels, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes can be reduced.

In my presentation today, I will be discussing the McKinney Act of 1987 and later the relabeled McKinney-Vento Act of 2000. This piece of legislation was the first attempt by the federal government to curb the devastation homelessness was having on the American people during the 1980’s. I will discuss the initial details in the legislation, the implementation  of the law as well as what long term affects it has had on society in helping solve homelessness in America. In addition, I will discuss how the political environment has affected the impact of the bill. Finally, I will offer an unbiased critique of the Act, as well as what can be done to not only improve this piece of legislation itself, but what can be done to tackle the purpose of the bill, homelessness.  

Using recurrent neural networks (RNN) and word vectors I show it is possible to create a machine that can analyze the sentiment of a sentence, highlight key topics, and even rewrite text data. Using a pipeline to normalize the incoming raw text data by correcting spelling errors and lemmatizing each word into the token of its respective base word. The preprocessed tokens are then fed into a sentiment analyzer followed by a topic target highlighter. Using the pre-trained word vectors from fastText, we feed a RNN our word vector inputs. The RNN can learn to recognize patterns of parts of speech and is capable of outputting coherent sentences. Using a variety of different datasets to train on I show a machine can learn complex patterns in text and begin to formulate a basic understanding of words. With further advancements in machine text generation, it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine if the text is written by a human or a computer.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a disease that causes lung scarring, leading to a decline in lung function and this is an irreversible process. Pirfenidone is currently an FDA approved drug of choice to treat IPF. As of now the mechanism of action for Pirfenidone is unknown to scientists, so making substitute drugs that are commercially affordable is of concern. The objective of our experiment is to explore cheaper and more effective drugs to treat IPF. At this point the best way to go about finding a replacement drug is to utilize drugs with similar structures.  The drugs of choice in our experiment were Antipyrine and N1-Desmethylantipyrine. Using A-549 epithelial cell lines, we will be testing the toxicity of Antipyrine and its analog N1-Desmethylantipyrine in order to determine Inhibitory Concentration (IC)-50.  With this information, it can be determined at what concentrations, if any, the substitute drugs would be tolerable for cells. Once the toxicity of the drugs is determined, further experimentation can be done to determine the biological efficacy against IPF disease by measuring the concentration of collagen produced while cells are under the influence of these drugs. 

The Green Iguana (Iguana iguana) is a large terrestrial and arboreal lizard capable of both great intelligence and strength. The species and their many subspecies are found naturally throughout central America as north as central Mexico and as south as southern Brazil and Paraguay. Though they are invasive in warmer areas of the United States and are considered of least concern by the (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, they are endangered in the wild in Costa Rica. This species holds cultural importance in Costa Rica both as a zoological spectacle as well as a natural food source as an alternative to cattle and other livestock. We will discuss the natural history of the green iguana both as a source of food and their introduction to the pet trade and subsequent introduction as an invasive species. We will also discuss their endangered status in some countries the green iguana is native to, specifically in Costa Rica, as well as the conservation efforts of Costa Rica to maintain this species in the wild. 

Nationwide, companies offer their employees health insurance options. Each employee’s health care program lasts from January 1st to December 31st, and employees typically have a limited enrollment period to make a choice that will affect their and their families' health care for the entire following year. Usually, employers offer a selection of two very different types of health care programs: A comprehensive medical care plan with high monthly premiums and a low deductible, and a high deductible insurance plan with low monthly premiums, an HSA account, a high deductible, and a high out-of-pocket payment. Both programs include a schedule of benefits detailing conditional benefit payments for different services.
Which plan works best for an employee’s situation is a daunting decision to make.
In my presentation I will discuss a mathematical decision-making model that is based on cost efficiency and effectiveness for health insurance options offered to MN State employees.

To move the football closer to the end zone, offenses must be able to complete passes downfield. Completing deep passes is a weakness for some teams in the National Football League (NFL). This study was conducted to see if quarterback influence on catch rate (QBICR) and receiver influence on catch rate (RICR) were effective predictors of air yards. Air yards are the number of yards a football is thrown past the line of scrimmage to the point of reception. This study also looked at where teams should throw passes when they struggle throwing the football downfield. The interaction between QBICR and RICR was found to be an effective predictor of air yards. When a quarterback had a low QBICR, the highest RICR ratings came from slot receivers. These results suggest that teams struggling to complete deep passes should throw to the middle of the field. By using these findings, struggling offenses can move the football closer to the end zone. This will allow teams to score more points, increasing the chances of winning a game.

This experiment was conducted to see if encoding information while listening to music is an effective strategy. Instead of focusing on the music itself, this study focused on the ways in which people listen to music (music listening styles). To conduct this experiment, 90 college undergraduates were used. Participants were asked to memorize a list of thirty words while they listened to calming, classical music. Each participant listened to the music with either two earbuds, one earbud, or no earbuds. To see if the music had any effect on encoding, participants were tested on the word list with a free recall test. It was hypothesized that encoding ability would vary depending on music listening style during study.

As technology develops, the way we communicate has been altered. Politicians have adapted to this change by moving away from lengthy speeches and towards short advertisement videos. Using electronic eloquence theory, I examined video advertisements from 2020 Presidential Candidates Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaigns. I determined both the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate’s advertisements using electronic eloquence’s five characteristics: the piece of rhetoric having personalization, self-disclosure, a conversational style, verbal distillation, and being visually dramatic. Video advertisements from Senator Warren have substantial use of self-disclosure, a conversational tone, verbal distillation, and being visually dramatic but were lacking in personalization. Former Vice President Biden was strong in his use of a conversational tone throughout his videos and did well in some instances with visual drama. His verbal distillation, personalization, and self-disclosure were all inadequately used. Overall Senator Warren’s advertisements had greater use of the characteristics of electronic eloquence. 

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) helps individuals who cannot communicate effectively via verbal speech to communicate in other ways. Communication is a crucial aspect of life; and having an effective avenue to communication has an impact on many aspects of someone’s life. The availability alone of an AAC device does not facilitate language. The role held by frequent communication partners is essential to the individual learning, using, and excelling in use of their AAC device. Communication partners often help program, update, select vocabulary, and organize symbols on an AAC device to keep it most accurate with what communication needs the individual has. This project explores how training and lack of training for communication partners affects how an individual uses their AAC device in their daily life.

Diabetes Mellitus is a condition in which blood sugar levels are elevated for an extended period because either insufficient levels of insulin (Type 1), insulin resistance (Type 2), and insulin resistance but not quite as severe to be classified as Type 2 (Pre-Diabetes). Common Type 2 and Pre-Diabetic risk factors include obesity, higher fat distribution in the abdominal region, physical inactivity, prior family history, race/ethnicity, age over 45, and increased amounts of stress. To execute the experiment, a glucose tolerance test was used which is a standard medical test in determining pre-diabetes. The purpose of this experiment is to test blood sugar levels after fasting and one-hour post glucose drink. The glucose levels were compared with 67 anonymous student survey’s on subject’s history of risk factors, body composition, and vitals. Results were analyzed using a Regression Analysis. General trends show an increase in blood glucose levels among less active, female sex, higher BMI, and prior family history students. Age did not play as a factor due to the 67 students with a minimal variance in age. A broader sample size would have made results more conclusive and trends more noticeable. Analysis shows that there are no outstanding trends given the age-limited data set of 67 students which hindered the validity of results on a broader scale.

Diabetes Mellitus is a condition in which blood sugar levels are elevated for an extended period because either insufficient levels of insulin (Type 1), insulin resistance (Type 2), and insulin resistance but not quite as severe to be classified as Type 2 (Pre-Diabetes). Common Type 2 and Pre-Diabetic risk factors include obesity, higher fat distribution in the abdominal region, physical inactivity, prior family history, race/ethnicity, age over 45, and increased amounts of stress. To execute the experiment, a glucose tolerance test was used which is a standard medical test in determining pre-diabetes. The purpose of this experiment is to test blood sugar levels after fasting and one-hour post glucose drink. The glucose levels were compared with 67 anonymous student survey’s on subject’s history of risk factors, body composition, and vitals. Results were analyzed using a Regression Analysis. General trends show an increase in blood glucose levels among less active, female sex, higher BMI, and prior family history students. Age did not play as a factor due to the 67 students with a minimal variance in age. A broader sample size would have made results more conclusive and trends more noticeable. Analysis shows that there are no outstanding trends given the age-limited data set of 67 students which hindered the validity of results on a broader scale.

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes cognitive decline and memory loss predominantly in elderly populations. Cases of AD have risen over the past two decades in every category of ethnicity, age, and social class, and it is thought that these numbers will keep increasing. Due to the progressive nature of the disease there are multiple stages of AD and it is common for a person to not display symptoms of the disease until irreversible damage has been inflicted on the neural tissue. As of now, there is no cure for AD, and diagnosis for AD is only determined post mortem currently. However, an active area of research is in determining the mechanism of all forms of AD in hopes of ways to determine early diagnosis and treatments. Current research shows that microglial regulation is an important factor in disruption of homeostasis in the brain that is causing the neuronal damage. The TREM2-APOE pathway is a regulator of the functional phenotype in microglia characterized in neurodegenerative disorders such as AD. This pathway functions by inducing the switch between protective microglia to neurodegenerative microglia. Once the switch to the damaging microglia occured and started to phagocytose apoptotic neurons an accumulation of apolipoprotein E (APOE) was located in high concentrations surrounding the amyloid beta plaques which are characteristic of AD. In our investigation we will be searching for other functions of the TREM2-APOE pathway and the neuroimmune response due to the accumulation of apoptotic neurons and APOE in the neurodegenerative microglia. 

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effects of content on social media platform sharing information about physical fitness on social media users’ intention to visit physical fitness expo (e.g., Fit Expo 2020). The Fit Expo is the biggest exhibition of the fitness industry that provides attendants with numerous opportunities. This event is featured by multiple companies in the fitness industry because the expo is considered “the most effective way to reach the lucrative fitness market” (The Fit Expo, 2020). Therefore, we would like to initiate our study by examining the social media usage pattern of users being interested in physical fitness based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model. In this study, we propose three sequential stages in physical fitness-oriented social media users’ decision-making process: physical fitness-related social media postings (Stimuli), attitude (e.g., perceived self-body image and enviousness) formed after exposure to physical fitness related postings (Organism), and the intention to visit the fit expo and intention to share information about the fit expo online or physical fitness activity (e.g., electronic word-of-mouth or eWOM) (Response). This study's findings will provide essential implications by explaining how physical fitness consumers adopt social media and make a decision. In addition, the process of how prospective expo attendees develop their eWOM decisions will be discussed. By doing so, marketing strategy for travel destination including expo, conference, or exhibition may lead to social media since it may increase traffic to destination page on social media and induce actual travel behaviors.

The main purpose of our study is to stimulate the fitness industry by solving two problems: the communication gap between training beginners and professional personal trainers and the lower customer awareness of professional personal trainers. In order to solve the problems, we used the Lean Start-up canvas and developed a brand-new business model. After three rounds of customer interviews with more than 20 training beginners and professional personal trainers, we created a project called FITMORE. It is an online platform that connects training beginners and professional personal trainers by joining the group run by the trainer to help your transformation and give you some tips for your daily workouts. On the other hand, FITMORE also raises professional personal trainers’ profiles and drives more marketing activities. We demonstrate that FITMORE helps training beginners who want to become more fit through personal training by reducing the communication gap at an affordable price and benefits professional personal trainers who want to drive more clients for higher customer awareness. 

Mosquito-borne pathogens generate some of the greatest challenges in public health today. These pathogens including West Nile, Malaria and the Zika virus, are spread with extreme efficiency by the mosquitoes ability to carry and distribute these diseases throughout the world. Precipitation has an effect on the mosquitoes population because they rely on stagnant water produced by large amounts of precipitation for reproduction. I will be identifying whether an increase of precipitation within the year 2017, at various locations, has a direct correlation to a spike in mosquito-borne pathogens by using the datasets: Precipitation and Mosquito-Borne Pathogen Status from the NEON Database. An exploratory data analysis in R will be conducted; if a positive connection is found this will contribute to the public health by ensuring the proper precautions are taken to guarantee safety against these fatal pathogens in places where these diseases take an especially deadly toll on those who live there.

As part of continuing from preparation for collecting data as part of the TESS ground-based follow-up network, we have been developing software using Python to produce the data products needed for a TESS submission. We are now able to produce a photometry measurement table, a light curve, a seeing profile and a field image with apertures with the software we have written. A new feature is the ability to generate a table reporting variable star observations in the field of a TESS exoplanet to the AAVSO. One goal is to make this software compatible with AstroImageJ, so that the user can, for example, do photometry and generate TESS reports in AstroImageJ but generate AAVSO variable star reports using this software.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an American immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the US.

The policy was created after acknowledgment that "Dreamer" students had been largely raised in the United States and this was seen as a way to remove immigration enforcement attention from "low priority" individuals with good behavior.’ Support for this program, like much of immigration policy is divided along party lines.

This paper will examine the implementation of the policy under both President Obama and President Trump. It will also explore the reasons for the party divide and the court case, heading now to the Supreme Court, which may decide if the policy will continue.

Camp Hayes was established as a military camp on July 3rd, 1863 in Ransom County as General Sibley pursued Dakota tribes across North Dakota, following the Dakota Wars in autumn 1862. Occupied for roughly 3-5 days during the 4th of July celebrations, this camp is often mentioned in passing in the histories of Ransom County.  There have even been attempts to link prehistoric enclosures to this expedition.  The camp, although known to locals, has never been recorded as a discrete archaeological site. The goal of this project is to establish the location of Camp Hayes in Ransom County through archival research, collections analysis, and spatial analysis. Documenting Camps Hayes will aid in the comprehension of historic archaeological sites in North Dakota, and further knowledge surrounding the Sibley Expedition in the State. The result will be a comprehensive report mapping the site, documenting collected artifacts, and discussing the implications of information gathered during the research undertaken.

The death penalty is as old as government itself. It is the act of killing a person who has been convicted for some heinous crime. For many years, there has been debate whether the death penalty still has a place in society. In this paper, readers will learn about three states that each hold different views regarding the death penalty. First, is Texas, where the death penalty is still in place. Second, right here in Minnesota, where the death penalty has been abolished. And finally, California, where their Governor has placed a moratorium on the death penalty. This paper will reveal which specific cases, legislation, and lawmakers played a role in making the death penalty what it is in those states.

The term “whistleblower” came out of Britain, describing police officers blowing their whistles when they witnessed a crime. This term grew to be more negative when it became a part of the American lexicon in the 1930s. An example of its early use comes from Jack Miley, a New York Times contributor who slammed wrestler promoter Jacob Pfefer as “...a whistle-blower, which is unforgivable.”. Over the past century, the term whistleblower has grown to define a vital part of the federal government. Through defining events such as Watergate, Wikileaks, and President Trump’s impeachment, whistleblowers have become part of the checks on the federal government’s actions. With these events, there has been an increased scrutiny of these individuals, as well as an increased protection of their rights after they come forward. This paper will examine federal policy protecting whistleblowers, including why the laws exist and how they are applied.

Incomes for teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) continue to rise as the sport gains in popularity. The NBA has less parity compared to other major sports leagues,  so teams that have historically been successful have continued to and teams that have been unsuccessful continue to do so. The purpose of this paper is to study the factors that influence both the income of an NBA team and that team’s winning percent. This research will analyze the factors that impact both income and winning percentage of a National Basketball Association team. Using publicly available data from 2000-2019, variables concerning team performance, demographics and economics are analyzed to determine in team income and team winning percentage are influenced by the same factors. Results of this research are beneficial to owners who are deciding whether to invest in their team and to free agents who may be more likely to sign with a team whose owner is shown to improve the quality of the team.

Abstract: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic respiratory disease which slowly destructs the lung’s architecture. Pirfenidone is one of the two drugs that has been recently approved by FDA as one of the only viable treatments for IPF due to its capability to reduce collagen production. However, this drug is not a sustainable treatment because of its production cost. Even though it is well known that Pirfenidone is efficient at a high concentration (3mM), the specific molecular mechanism of how the drug decreases the production of collagen by fibrocytes is still unknown. Our objective was to identify a process in the way Pirfenidone functions, using structural analogues; Antipyrine and Dihydroantipyrine. Antipyrine differs from Dihydroantipyrine due to the presence of a double-bond between the 4th and 5th carbon within the 5-membered ring. Their molecular weights are 188 g/mol and 190 g/mol, respectively. Before testing for efficacy of the compounds, we need to test for toxicity using concentration treatments.  In our research, we tested different dilutions of each compound from 160 mM down to 5mM for toxicity using MTT-Assay Protocol. Lung epithelial cells secrete cytokines such as Interleukin-4 (IL-4), and IL-13 that recruit more fibrocytes to the lungs. Additionally, they secrete growth factors such as TGF-β, which activates the collagen production within the fibrocytes. Based on our toxicity data, we will select non-toxic drug concentrations to test for the compound’s biological efficacy. These kinds of studies are essential for establishing a baseline for further research.

Abstract: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic respiratory disease which slowly destructs the lung’s architecture. Pirfenidone is one of the two drugs that has been recently approved by FDA as one of the only viable treatments for IPF due to its capability to reduce collagen production. However, this drug is not a sustainable treatment because of its production cost. Even though it is well known that Pirfenidone is efficient at a high concentration (3mM), the specific molecular mechanism of how the drug decreases the production of collagen by fibrocytes is still unknown. Our objective was to identify a process in the way Pirfenidone functions, using structural analogues; Antipyrine and Dihydroantipyrine. Antipyrine differs from Dihydroantipyrine due to the presence of a double-bond between the 4th and 5th carbon within the 5-membered ring. Their molecular weights are 188 g/mol and 190 g/mol, respectively. Before testing for efficacy of the compounds, we need to test for toxicity using concentration treatments.  In our research, we tested different dilutions of each compound from 160 mM down to 5mM for toxicity using MTT-Assay Protocol. Lung epithelial cells secrete cytokines such as Interleukin-4 (IL-4), and IL-13 that recruit more fibrocytes to the lungs. Additionally, they secrete growth factors such as TGF-β, which activates the collagen production within the fibrocytes. Based on our toxicity data, we will select non-toxic drug concentrations to test for the compound’s biological efficacy. These kinds of studies are essential for establishing a baseline for further research.

Students want to reach out and get help, but there aren't any platforms to get help. Taking a customer interview approach of 15 students at MSUM, we identify students’ needs, wants, and what they would not like in an app. Our project, Be My Heart, has features that is sending facts about mental health along with health habits to improve their wellbeing, having pictures or memes to cheer them up, and having a motivational quote or verse. Be my Heart is the mental health app for college students ages ranging from 18 to 25 years old that need someone who can relate to them personally because two thirds of people with a known mental disorder never end up seeking help.  

The scope of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) covers many different areas, including speech sound disorders, literacy, developmental delays, fluency, cognitive disorders, feeding and swallowing, and voice disorders. Within this scope of practice, the SLP will treat a variety of patient types with a variety of disorders. Many times secondary issues arise from the principal diagnosis. One such area is negative behaviors associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and SLPs use many tools to ensure that the patient is in the best physical and emotional state to receive efficient and effective interventions. These behaviors are not foreign to other disciplines that work with these same populations. Teachers and school-based clinicians like occupational therapy (OT), behavior analysts, and social workers also face challenging behaviors in their students. An emerging tool used in self-regulation focuses on mindful movements and nonreligious yoga that helps the individual spend energy in a controlled way and increases awareness of one's own body. This intervention is a technique that SLPs could incorporate into their therapy practices to manage negative behaviors and focus on positive outcomes from their therapy sessions. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has adopted a
stance to encourage interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional practice (IPP) to collaborate with other professions. By looking at the use of mindful movements in other areas, SLPs can work with other professions to add a new skill to their toolbox.

Ethnic differences in relation to Diabetes

                  Jasmine Lhotka

Ashley Nyblom

Abdulai Njai

February 17, 2020

Type II diabetes is a disease in which the human body is inefficient in detecting insulin levels. This study has been conducted to evaluate the risk factors of type II diabetes within various ethnic groups. There are many reasons certain ethnic groups are affected by the disease such as: socioeconomic status, environmental/community factors, and access to health care/medications. When observing ethnic groups such as Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, and Caucasians, it has been shown that Caucasians had more access to health care, and utilized their services (74.4% Caucasians, 15% African Americans, and 5% Mexican-Americans). Body shape index and body mass index (BMI) can enlighten individuals from various parts of the globe such as the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, etc., whether they are at a higher risk of obtaining type II DM. These indicators are useful when acquiring data on a large scale population.  Minorities are at higher risk for developing diabetes due to the high costs for medicine, food, and other health care services. Latinos and African-Americans were most likely to not have prescription drug coverage (67%) and Latinos were more likely to have out-of-pocket drug costs greater than $100 per month (32%). Studies and statistics have shown how low health care access, socioeconomic status, environmental factors, increasing drug costs, and body mass/body shape differences in various countries contributes to the development of type II DM.

Civil Rights Era and the Chicago Riots of 1968

This presentation examines the Chicago riots in the mid-1960s, with a strong focus on Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968, to help us understand racial tensions in northern cities in the Civil Rights era. The people working in the Civil Rights movement sought to end the violence and unequal treatment between African Americans and white Americans. This presentation illustrates how Black and White political figures reacted to African American violence in the streets, and the policies developed to help African Americans deal with the oppression, racism, and the denial of basic human rights in the wake of these riots.

A literature review was conducted to further investigate the role of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in end-of-life (EOL) services. These roles include care in the areas of communication, counseling, feeding, and cognition as it relates to progressive diseases such as dementia. Clinical preparation of SLPs in this area was also reviewed in a specific study by Pascoe, Breen & Cocks done in 2017. The two settings where EOL care is primarily provided to patients are the palliative and hospice care settings. The role of the SLP is dynamic and dependent on what illness their patient is facing (Toner & Shadden, 2012). How SLPs provide care to target the ultimate goal, a high quality of life, is also discussed in significant detail.

When the subject of smuggling comes up in conversation, drugs or guns often come to mind. Typically, social norms and laws condemn or punish such activity. But what happens when the goods being smuggled are of a literary or cultural nature? Throughout history, cultures all over the world have been threatened by repressive social forces or political regimes. At the risk of losing languages or traditions, the need to illegally smuggle books to preserve a culture, religion, or language too often presents itself.

            For my paper, I plan to examine select case studies in the history of book smuggling and the circumstances that led to the rise in smuggling books. One compelling example includes the Jewish people residing in Nazi Germany who hid books and manuscripts in the ghettos to protect and preserve their culture and language. I will also examine the various ways in which books were smuggled and some of the costs associated with getting caught while smuggling important or banned texts.

With a cultural image that portrays a “college for all” mantra, there are a variety of measures that may be impactful on one’s decision to go to college. This paper focuses on Minnesota State University Moorhead students’ narratives around social influences and pressure to continue their education through the means of a four-year degree. It was found that areas of social impact were based on the influences of family, friends, media, and the American dream in relation to one’s self-identity and future aspirations. In terms of individual decisions towards college, major choice and university location were almost exclusively made independently.

Using current predictions of extinction rates from increasing temperatures from climate change; there is a wide range of cause and effect in each taxonomic group. Using an estimation of the global mean for the extinction rate, and the factors of those which contribute to the acceleration of future global temperatures. These threaten all species; especially those in South America, Australia, and New Zealand. There needs to be more of an urgency to take strategies that limit further climate change if we want to stop the acceleration of global extinctions.

Today in the United States, same-sex marriage is a constitutionally protected right enshrined by a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The landmark case, Obergefell v. Hodges changed it all. Before this decision was made, several states recognized same sex-marriage and others banned it. This paper will examine where this issue began and how it was challenged in the Supreme Court. I will also cover how some State Supreme Courts were involved in this matter and their decision. This issue involved state laws as well as constitutional questions that I will cover in further detail. The paper will analyze both legal and political aspects of this historic decision.

Hands-on learning, or experiential learning, is a teaching method that promotes students to participate in group work and create projects rather than engage in a traditional lecture or note taking. Students who have participated in hands on learning showed higher information retention than students who have not (Mohammadi et al. 2020). In Minnesota State University’s Cellular Biology Course, Professor Ellen Brisch implements several hands-on learning techniques and assignments, such as weekly group quizzes and drawing assignments. Do the students that partake in an optional drawing assignment score higher on there Exam 2 than students that chose not to complete the assignment? What is the likelihood of students passing Exam 2 if they did not complete the assignment? Using Dr. Brisch’s gradebook data, I will be completing an exploratory analysis of the relationship between student grades on an optional drawing assignment and their Exam 2 grade, as well as using inferential statistics to distinguish the likelihood of students passing their Exam 2 given they did not complete the optional drawing assignment. I expect to find students who have completed the optional assignment to score higher on their Exam 2 than students who did not complete the assignment. In a similar fashion, I expect students who score higher on the assignment will have higher exam scores than students who received a lower grade on the assignment.

The purpose of this study was to explore the motivating factors that influenced culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) undergraduate students in choosing to major in Communication Science and Disorders (CSD). An electronic quantitative survey was sent to undergraduate CSD students in schools in the Midwest, in particular the West North Central division of the United States as defined by the U.S. Census (Census Regions and Divisions of the United States, n.d). The findings indicated that the majority of CLD students who chose to major in CSD were those who knew a speech-language pathologist and/or had a strong desire to work in a field that helps people.

The topic of research for this paper is the Grange Movement in the United States during the late 19th century. The primary focus is a look at the issues facing farmers at the end of the Civil War and why Grange movement became a period of dissent for American farmers. The farmers of the Midwest faced unfair pricing for the storage and transportation of goods created from unregulated industries during the late 19th century. The Grange Movement became an opportunity for this vast amount of people to band together and introduce change for their communities. The movement played a role in creating the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The Grange movement became the catalyst against the unregulated practices of industries like the railroad companies and to improve the lives of those living in these rural communities.

Cryptic, unreadable programming languages are all too common in modern software development.
Many languages cling to outdated conventions such as types which must be read right to left,
have inadequate or nonexistent metaprogramming facilities, either abstract away too little or too
much, and lack proper, official support from text editors. I present the specification for a new
programming language, designed to solve the above problems, Ligi, as well as a basic reference
interpreter and a typeserver designed to facilitate editor-compiler interactions.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a major active product found in cannabis plants. CBD can be found in many products such as lotions, oils, and vapor, and is said to be useful for relieving unwanted pain, anxiety, and depression. Research has found that CBD can cause apoptosis in immune cells, specifically B and T lymphocytes. B cells secrete antibodies to attack pathogens and T cells recognize viral antigens, both being crucial to a successful immune response. Mice exposed to Aspergillus fumigatus will have elevated levels of immune cells present in the body such as B and T lymphocytes. The goal of this project is to determine if CBD is an immunosuppressant, causing decreased levels of B and T lymphocytes. We will be exposing the immunocompromised mice to CBD vapor through a mouse nebulizer examining samples through bronchoalveolar lavage at Days 0, 3, and 10. The importance of these time points is that after the initial exposure to Aspergillus fumigatus there would be an increasing immune response within the time frame noted. We expect that mice that are exposed to Aspergillus fumigatus and CBD will have decreasing numbers of lymphocytes when compared to mice simply exposed to Aspergillus fumigatus alone.

This paper examines the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act. This paper explores what the act plans on doing for the future of the earth’s oceans and how it plans on implementing these proposed ideas. It describes the efforts to date on turning this bill into a law, including the three versions it has had - the introduced version, the version that passed the Senate and the version that was referred to the House Committee. The paper also examines where the funding is coming from; what is the difference between the first Save Our Seas Act and this second version; and the support for and opposition to this policy.

My policy is the recently passed, DENVER PSILOCYBIN MUSHROOM
DECRIMINALIZATION INITIATIVE. Drug legalization is a highly debated topic right now. Many
states are in the middle of the policy-making process for various controlled substances. The
Denver mushroom initiative is a policy that approved the nation’s first referendum on
decriminalizing hallucinogenic mushrooms which passed on May 7th 2019. In this paper, I will
examine the sides of the debate, for and against, the origins of the policy, the potential legal
problems with the policy and the overall process of passing such an initiative in Denver. I will
answer some common questions such as; where did this initiative originate? Who favored and
opposed the initiative? What issues continue today because of its passing? Overall, a deep
exploration of the policy will be conducted.

  At MSUM, communication, a basic skill that provides benefits for students is lacking campus-wide. Many interviewees backed this theory by stating they had felt “lost” in a class. Some emphasized that they had dropped a class strictly because of an unfit instructor. This class communication app is being made not only to improve class communication through secure class-list instant messaging, but provide reliable instructor reviews to prevent the “lost” feeling from happening in the first place. By providing students with information, they are matched with their best suited teacher while assuring they have access to instant communication with classmates. This program helps freshman/transfer students (as well as all students of campus if needed), who want to improve academic performance by simplifying contact methods and ensuring proper teaching techniques to best fit individual student learning styles. Unlike the current D2L program.

In AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city of Pompeii, a tragedy which also served to perfectly preserve a snapshot of Campanian culture. According to Classical historian Kristina Milnor in her book Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii, one of the most significant clues into their daily lives are the words inscribed on walls, both on the outside of city businesses and inside the houses of the elite. Neatly classifying this graffiti can be difficult: is it considered a mural? A remarkably large, structural tablet? Literary critic Thomas Vogler refers to “text that has been separated from its immediate association with the specific form of the book” as “textual events.” This is term captures phenomena that may not meet the definition of a book per se, yet at the same time, cannot be entirely be divorced from the concept of a book. This paper contends that Vogler’s “textual event” becomes an especially useful designation when describing the Pompeiian practice of inscribing quotes from Virgil’s poems onto walls as graffiti. Additionally, the designation also captures graffiti that remixes existing texts (creating mash-ups of sorts) as well as creating unique texts.

Predation is one of the most important factors determining whether or not an animal is able to reproduce. Therefore, reducing the probability of predation is a major component of natural selection. Snails use their shell for protection and when the risk of predation is high, they invest more heavily in their shell, particularly in changing the shape of their shell. Snails alter their shape to have a more circular opening that makes the shell more resistant to being crushed by the jaws of a predator. My experiment is designed to see the morphological response of freshwater snails (Physella acuta) to chemical cues  of predators with different predation methods. Throughout a three-week period, 60 snails have been grown in individual cups after being individually measured for shell length, width, opening length, opening width, and apex length. During the three week period, they were exposed to one of three different chemical cues; predator order from a crayfish, predator odor from a loach, and blank water to act as a control. The samples were treated once per day with 1 ml of each cue to influence shell growth. At the end of the treatment, the snails were individually measured once more, and shell shape was measured and compared to test the effects of treatment cues.

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is the condition where the body does not properly uptake glucose or deliver insulin in proper levels resulting in elevated blood glucose. Type 2 DM occurs when the body is insulin resistant. Type 2 DM development has been linked to obesity and was assumed to be synonymous with increased body mass index (BMI). BMI is not the most important determinant for development of type 2 DM. Waist to hip ratio, visceral fat mass, and skeletal muscle mass are more accurate determinants. Fat in the abdominal region increases the risk of developing Type 2 DM, but fat deposited in the legs has the opposite effect. Leg fat has been shown to positively affect glucose tolerance and may provide protection from lipo-toxicity and inflammatory cytokines. This inflammation of adipose tissue has been shown to be a mediator of systemic insulin resistance as this causes dysfunction in adipose tissue and ectopic fat distribution. The location of adipose tissue deposition can have varying effects on the development and progress of Type 2 DM. Both increased skeletal muscle mass and decreased visceral fat mass are necessary to improve beta cell function in order to decrease risk factors. Adipose tissue is important for a healthy life, and excess amounts as well as too little have been shown to affect people who are considered healthy, so the question becomes what analysis will provide the best accuracy for determining the development of Type 2 DM?

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a growing concern across the world. There are many known risk factors associated with the development of DM, including genetic predisposition and a person’s age. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a polygenic disorder, meaning that there are numerous genes located on different chromosomes that contribute to the susceptibility of developing T2D over the lifespan. Furthermore, as a person ages, the risk of the individual genes for T2D being expressed dramatically increases. The study of genetic risk factors for T2D is further complicated by the fact that many environmental factors (i.e. diet, physical activity, lifestyle choices) interact with genes to produce the disorder. T2D is being diagnosed earlier in life due to the cultural shift in lifestyle choices as well as new research pointing medical professionals to a better understanding of the risk factors.

Presenter: Kalley Kragenbring

Title: The Speech-Language Pathologist’s Role in Literacy

Format: Community Poster Presentation

Abstract:

Reading and writing are at the core of education. These skills are targeted from pre-kindergarten throughout the college years and carried into daily living. Spoken language and written language are highly correlated when regarding delays. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the speech-language pathologist is qualified to assess, diagnose, and treat children who have reading and writing challenges. The SLP has knowledge about spoken language and communication, which are foundational aspects of literacy development. The foundation of reading and writing is language, which provides reasoning for the positive correlation between language disorders and reading and writing difficulties. The presentation of this research is important as to not forget the critical insight and qualities of the SLP in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of written language disorders and other related diagnoses. The SLP contributes to the prevention aspect as well as they are qualified in frameworks and intervention strategies to create a plan if a child is in need of services. Collaboration with other professionals is crucial to ensuring the child gets the best care possible. This research brings increased awareness of the role of the SLP in literacy development for other professionals in coexisting professions.  This research strongly suggests that the role of the SLP in literacy is crucial when addressing assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of children with reading and writing difficulties.

Profile:

I, the presenter, hold a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and am pursuing my Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology. I am passionate about the school setting and creating a collaborative atmosphere throughout the employees. I feel collaboration is the most important way to ensure the children receive the highest quality of services to help them succeed.

Presenter: Kalley Kragenbring

Title: The Speech-Language Pathologist’s Role in Literacy

Format: Community Poster Presentation

Abstract:

Reading and writing are at the core of education. These skills are targeted from pre-kindergarten throughout the college years and carried into daily living. Spoken language and written language are highly correlated when regarding delays. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the speech-language pathologist is qualified to assess, diagnose, and treat children who have reading and writing challenges. The SLP has knowledge about spoken language and communication, which are foundational aspects of literacy development. The foundation of reading and writing is language, which provides reasoning for the positive correlation between language disorders and reading and writing difficulties. The presentation of this research is important as to not forget the critical insight and qualities of the SLP in assessment, diagnosis and treatment of written language disorders and other related diagnosis. The SLP contributes to the prevention aspect as well as they are qualified in frameworks and intervention strategies to create a plan if a child is in need of services. Collaboration with other professionals is crucial to ensuring the child gets the best care possible. This research brings increased awareness to the role of the SLP in literacy development for other professionals in coexisting professions.  This research strongly suggests that the role of the SLP in literacy is crucial when addressing assessment, diagnosis and treatment of children with reading and writing difficulties.

Profile:

I, the presenter, hold a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and am pursuing my Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology. I am passionate about the school setting and creating a collaborative atmosphere throughout the employees. I feel collaboration is the most important way to ensure the children receive the highest quality of services to help them succeed.

Awatixa Village in the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site (KNRI) sits on an eroding cutbank along the Knife River in central North Dakota. The site is famous for being the home of Sacagawea and a stopping place for Lewis and Clark on their Corps of Discovery journey across the newly purchased United States. The cutbank has been extremely vulnerable to erosion over many years precipitating attempts to record as much information about the site as possible. Many geophysical remote sensing methods have been utilized in order to accomplish this goal. In June of 2019, magnetic susceptibility studies were conducted on the face of the cutbank at a terrace section upstream from the village. A Bartington MS2 meter and MS2K sensor was used on the face of this section to record changes in volume magnetic susceptibility with depth. Soil samples were also brought back to MSUM for the measurement of mass magnetic susceptibility and the frequency dependence of susceptibility using a Bartington MS2B laboratory sensor. Combined with a geoarchaeological description accomplished in the field, these results provide a better understanding of the stratigraphic sequence, including flooding cycles of the Knife River that have led to layers and accumulation of sediment, and a base line for natural soils in the area to compare to magnetic changes due to human occupation observed within the village

This research reviews the various ways dogs can help assist people with complex communication differences, specifically ASD. In addition to some behavioral and emotional challenges some children with ASD face, some also exhibit complex communication needs. Addressing these complex communication needs is done by a variety of specialists that are specially trained to work with animals and people with ASD. Although there are many ways that dogs can be used to bridge the social gap, this paper will focus on Speech-Language clinic-based therapy with a dog.  Animals, specifically dogs, seem to possess a unique capacity to serve as an emotional and communicative bridge in social settings. Therapy with dogs and Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) are centered around encouraging empathetic non-verbal feedback and increased interactions in social settings. Adding dogs to a therapy setting will help teach a child to gradually understand the non-verbal feedback a dog is giving them. Over time, this skill could be applied to other people in different social settings. Dogs and SLP’s work together to help instill and build strong communication and social skills in children with ASD and complex communication needs.

Killdeer are a type of plover bird that are found all across the country at different times of the year. One will see these birds on the ground in open areas such as yards, gravel, and even golf courses. I will be looking into how the climate in North Dakota has changed the abundance of killdeers found. The dataset used is eBird Basic Dataset, which is from eBird Science. I plan on doing explanatory data analysis comparing the seasonal temperature in ND with the number of killdeers observed. I suspect that I will find the number of killdeers in the spring time significantly lower than in the past due to the change in climate effecting the temperatures.

The purpose of this study was to examine the phonological awareness skill of letter-sound relationships for preschool students using the multi-kinesthetic Visual Phonics intervention, See the Sound/Visual Phonics. The study had a non-concurrent multiple baseline data procedure, where each child was exposed to a general phonics curriculum in comparison to a Visual Phonics intervention. A specific interest was in understanding the potential benefits (i.e., rate of mastery) for preschool students with typical hearing, and the potential for Visual Phonics to support improved letter-sound accuracy for children at risk for speech sound disorders and delays.  The results of this study indicate See the Sound/Visual Phonics may potentially serve as a tool to use with a variety of students to promote improved phonological awareness skills. 

The women’s suffrage movement often gets overlooked and lost in general history. Even when it is looked at, it is only through one perspective of the movement: white. Marginalized groups’ voices are often drowned out by their white counterparts.  This project focuses on African-American suffragettes’ experience and how they were isolated from first-wave feminism by white women. White women used racist rhetoric to push African-American women out of the movement, which in turn forced women of color to create their own movement parallel to white suffrage. Black women did not fit within the framework of black male suffrage or the women’s suffrage movement. This project examines the racism these women faced, exploring how and if their organizing was effective, and why they were discouraged from participating in the suffrage movement as a whole. An intersectional framework was heavily used in the research by focusing on the oppression African-American women faced by being black, women, and how they were treated as lower class citizens.

After the American Civil War, former slaves, although legally free, still did not have the same rights and freedoms as white people. They were not allowed the same careers and opportunities. Black women were forced into domestic labor that fit along expected gender roles. This research looks at black washerwomen who went on strike for better working conditions in Jackson, Mississippi and Atlanta, Georgia. These two groups were some of the first to campaign for workers rights during Reconstruction. This history is important because the black women from Jackson set up the first labor union in Mississippi during this period. These groups also set a precedent for other service sectors like cooks, nurses, and maids to strike for better wages and treatment. Even after the Civil War, black women had a powerful influence. This research delves into the intersection of women’s history and labor history by analyzing the ways in which black women organized and coordinated with what little resources they had available during this time period to advocate for better working conditions. This project heavily draws on the research of historical scholars, Tera W. Hunter and Eric Foner, which helped shape my analysis for this project.     

Selasphorus is a genus of hummingbirds within the family Trochilidae. This family consists of hummingbirds that are native to the Americans. The four species within this genus are Selasphorus platycercus, Selasphorus rufus, Selasphorus sasin, and Selasphorus calliope. Even though these birds can all be found on the same continents, their occurrence may still differ throughout the year due to their breading time. The question that I will analyze is how does the location of occurrence of four different hummingbird species of the same genus vary throughout the year? In order to answer this question, I will be using the eBird Basic Dataset. By conducting an exploratory data analysis, I will compare during which month the four different species can be found in which exact location. If this study finds a significant difference between the four species, it can be further analyzed at what point in time and why they have developed their timely and locational niche.

Inflammation is a body’s response to foreign substances, in which innate immune cells release cytokines that recruit more leukocytes to fight against these substances. However, in some cases the body’s immune system can be mistakenly triggered by its own cells, known as an autoimmune disease. While inflammation is a healthy response to infection, chronic inflammation can be harmful. Inflammation results in changes such as calor (heat), rubor (redness), tomor (swelling), dolor (pain), and even functio-laesa, or loss of function. One way to determine an immune response in the body is to measure the amount of leukocytes present in the serum. A high concentration of leukocytes indicates an active immune system. Even though inflammation and its corresponding components have been well studied, it is still unknown how to downregulate chronic inflammation in autoimmunity. Some approved drugs are able to suppress the immune system in order to reduce an inflammatory response; however, these therapies cause serious side effects within the body. Scientific evidences have suggested that certain food components may decrease inflammation. We propose that the anti-inflammatory food component curcumin, found in turmeric, has the ability to naturally reduce inflammation. In our research we will trigger a leukocyte response by performing inhalation of Aspergillus fumigatus in mice. Further, we will inject the mice with a dose of 200 mg/kg of dissolved curcumin via an intraperitoneal route and perform a bronchoalveolar lavage, cytospin the cells and stain them. We will then count the different types of leukocytes at day 0, 3, and 28. If this study is successful, the leukocyte concentration will be reduced and the natural reduction of chronic inflammation in patients with autoimmune disorders can be studied further.

Diabetes Mellitus, or Type 2 Diabetes, is an epidemic that has been studied for years that has be determined to have many different causation factors. Type 1 Diabetes is genetic and is insulin dependent because the pancreas cannot produce insulin; in comparison to Type 2 Diabetes that is insulin resistant, resulting in high blood glucose levels. High blood glucose levels can have detrimental effects on the body, such as cardiovascular disease and reduced neurological recovery after cardiac arrest or stroke. This can be caused by lack of exercise, malnutrition, excessive alcohol, and smoking. Improving lifestyle choices can reduce or reverse the risk of Type 2 Diabetes. This can include daily exercise, proper nutrition, such as low fat, high carb diet and limiting alcohol intake, and quitting smoking, which helps increase insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance in the blood. Educating yourself on diabetic and pre-diabetic conditions in relation to lifestyle choices is important when it comes to deciding how to properly adapt your own individual lifestyle.

Our study focuses on making the business card exchanging experience more convenient, efficient, and environmentally friendly. Carrying traditional business cards around is a hassle and poses the risk of running out or losing them. By utilizing the Lean Start-up Canvas with the currency exchange customer interview technique, we are able to consult business professionals and better understand the minds of who our customers are and what they need in their business worlds. We create an electronic business card application, Qcard, that quickly scans traditional business cards and saves them in contacts using a QR code, organizes contacts based on personal preferences, and provides a way to connect with your contacts with one easy click. Qcard helps business professionals under the age of 55 who want to have a more convenient way to access their business connections by reducing the hassle of manually entering business information and enhancing the efficiency of business cards.

Turkey distribution in the united states.

Keith Crisp

Abstract

At one point in time there was millions of wild turkeys roaming the united states until European colonists arrived and hunted the birds relentlessly. By 1930, the population dropped  to just under 30,000. With conservation efforts the Wild Turkey population has since recovered. What is the cause and effect relationship between the time of year and turkey distribution in the united states? The eBird data (Wild turkey) containing the distribution and the time of year will be used in this data analysis. I will be comparing the turkey populations against the time of year in which it was recorded. In analyzing this data, I hope to uncover the different reasons why Wild Turkeys are gathering and dispersing at certain times of the year. This information could benefit hunters and conservationist.

This literature review was used and conducted to explore the available intervention techniques for Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) when treating individuals with dementia. The number of individuals diagnosed with dementia has increased in recent years which has impacted the make-up of SLP caseload (ASHA, 2019). SLPs can utilize a combination of direct and indirect treatment techniques to address the challenges facing individuals with dementia. These can include external and internal strategies, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and ways to increase positive outcomes (Fried-Oken & colleagues, 2015; Swan et al. 2018; Hopper et al. 2013). There are barriers SLPs face when treating individuals with dementia including full caseloads that require more attention to other clients, lack of practicing SLP education, lack of referral by other professionals, and unawareness by persons with dementia of the opportunity for treatment services (Davies, 2017; Paul and Mehrhoff, 2015). An option for increasing confidence among new practicing clinicians is partaking in academic service learning with persons with dementia during graduate school (Kaf, Barboa, Fisher, and Snavely, 2011). Positive treatment outcomes resulted in higher resilience by persons with dementia in the face of their diagnosis (Williamson & Paslawski, 2016).

Novel Cryobacterium sp.st. CG9_6 was isolated from a supraglacial stream on the Cotton Glacier in Antarctica. It is a psychrophilic bacteria, meaning it can only grow in cold temperatures. It also has a vibrant pink pigment. The goal of this project was to extract and sequence DNA from CG9_6. In order to achieve DNA extraction, high concentration bacterial lawns had to be created. The DNA was extracted using a method based on the Puregene DNA Extraction protocol. Isolated DNA had low amounts of salt and protein contaminants. The average concentration of the samples was 358.9ng/uL. The DNA was sequenced using a Nanopore MinION, and assembled and analyzed using Canu and PATRIC programs. The results of the genome analysis will be presented including GC content, gene function prediction, and comparison to related species.

Diabetes Mellitus in general is a disorder characterized by high blood sugar levels over an extended period. Specifically, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus refers to insulin resistance. The body produces insulin, but the receptors are desensitized to the insulin. The exact cause of Type 2 Diabetes is unknown, but both acute and chronic stress can lead to an increased risk. Stress is known to elicit a bodily response that interrupts glucose homeostasis. When the body experiences stress, it is combated via the sympathetic nervous system and the upregulation of the HPA axis. There is a chain of hormones that target one another after being introduced to stress and releases cortisol which eventually causes energy storage mobilization. When glucose is outside the normal range, insulin is secreted to restore equilibrium. Over time when the body's homeostatic systems receive constant stress, it results in the regulatory system failing, also known as insulin resistance. Although the exact cause of Type 2 Diabetes is unknown, it is understood that stress is a potential factor. The question is raised of whether we can find more information about the long-term effects of stress and understanding the underlying mechanism that causes stress to increase the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

As a long time fan of table-top role playing games, I have always loved the feel of creating characters.  As technology progressed, I began to want to make it so i didn't have to be carrying around the dice to do so.  With my education here at MSUM, I have gained the tools to expand on what I have been doing for over 20 years.  I have made a more robust character generator that can work with the multiple systems that fall under the d20 system of games.  I have focused on Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder as the two most notable of the recent systems of games.

I will be creating personal dairy, planner application. As I’ve always wanted to keep track of my schedules all at ones as well as keep reminders to dos, or habit trackers found calendar applications little complicated and doesn’t has enough features. This application would be very useful for college students to keep track of their schedule and keep track of their goals for the year. Application will help college students to plan their school year for each year, to plan their school and work schedule, due dates for their course works, as well as daily habits to keep students organized throughout their school year. 

Health is one of the most ever-changing and important issues that we should be constantly monitoring and adapting to. Although not everyone has equal access to healthcare and insurance in the case that something bad happened to them. The data sets of low income working families with kids from the KIDS COUNT database and County health rankings in Minnesota from the county health rankings database will be used and observed to try and find a correlation between the number of families with lower than average income in Minnesota and their impact on the on the overall percent of Minnesota’s population who have access to the basics of healthcare (insurance and premature death). R Studio will be used to compare the data and see if there is a direct connection between these two sets of information. If there is a connection found this could help the political leaders of Minnesota see how detrimental this problem is and/or could become in the future if we allow these families to remain in the state they are currently in; and what they could possibly do to help ensure that these families are able to get the help/care that they need.

The use of smartphone sound measurement and acoustic analysis applications continues grow, subsequently, SLPs and audiologists may find it challenging to navigate the choices available, identify which applications provide necessary features, and determine ease of use. We imagine the future of acoustic analysis for clinical settings will continue to shift from expensive, research-driven instrumentation to low-cost, digital applications. Yet, it is overwhelming to understand the options without a systematic look at features and cost. When SLPs begin to use less expensive and mobile options for speech and voice analysis, one must consider if the replacement tools continue to meet the recommended measurement standards for voice instrumental assessments. It is important to assess if the features of the applications are feasible and efficient alternatives to traditional instrumentation tools. This study will include a literature review of current acoustic analysis protocols and smartphone/mobile acoustic analysis recommendations (Brown & Evans, 2011; Grillo, Brosious, Sorrell, & Anand, 2016; Leer, 2013; Patel el at. 2018). This will be followed by identifying current applications available and completion of a summary feature analysis comparing application features and cost. The study will discuss the relationship between smartphone applications features with the current recommended protocols for acoustic assessment (Patel el at. 2018). This study is intended to provide an overview for practicing SLPs considering alternatives to the traditional instrumental assessment tools (e.g., Multi-dimensional Voice Profile) through the development of a side-by-side feature comparison.

This long term study (2001-2019) focuses on western painted turtles (Chrysemys picta bellii) in Clay County, MN. Live floating/basking traps were used to capture turtles from three different sloughs. Captured turtles were weighed, sexed, notched and measured (carapace length, width, curvature, and plastron). If large enough (usually 10 cm or greater in carapace length), captured turtles were PIT-tagged for permanent identification. After data were collected from the turtles, the turtles were released back into the sloughs from which they were captured. In this poster, we are analyzing the data from 2016 (when we started using PIT tags) to 2019 only for PIT-tagged females. Past research has shown that females reach a larger size than same-aged males, and also that female carapace curvature is greater than that of males of the same age, supposedly because it allows more space for females to carry eggs. In this poster, we investigate if the ratio of carapace curvature length to carapace (straight) length changes as the females grows larger. If the ratio increases as the female gets larger it would have implications that perhaps she could carry more eggs or the same number of eggs, but larger eggs as she grows.

Japan’s traditional art of papermaking has endured for nearly 1300 years. Washi in particular has a vibrant legacy in Japan’s papermaking history. Washi comes from the words Wa, meaning Japanese and shi, meaning paper.  In this presentation, I will provide a brief history of the papermaking technique and paper trade, but I will be especially focused on the versatility of Washi papermaking.  This technique has formed the backbone of other Japanese art forms and has thus affected artists working in a number of different media.  Handmade paper is of more structurally sound material due to the lack chemicals in the processing and the incorporation of different plant-based materials.  This technique can also be seen as more environmentally friendly due to the processing and recycling of fibers.  Some of the many applications include printing and writing, book binding, origami, collage, watercolor and other painting techniques.  It is also currently used for sculpture, sometimes utilizing different lighting effects in installations as well as sculptural lamps or lanterns. Many other countries around the world are discovering the versatility of Washi papermaking technique and all that it has to offer our art communities in terms of biodiversity and conservation. 

The purpose of this study is to examine a fundamental marketing strategy - segmentation and targeting. Caribou Coffee used as a practical business case to analyze tridimensional bases: geographic, demographic and psychographic. Strategically analyzing consumers into these different bases allows companies to develop better target segments for estimating their precise needs and wants. By meshing macro- and micro-environmental perspectives, this study first analyzes Caribou Coffee: (1) as the brand itself, (2) the brand in its’ specific retail market, and (3) finally through a description of their typical consumer. Next, this study describes the target market of Caribou Coffee by integrating the different segmenting dimensionalities. For a series of analyses, this study uses two marketing tools that are predominantly used in the industry – i.e.,  PRIZM and VALS. Last, the usefulness of these tools is evaluated for the effectiveness to identify specific target segments, and the recommendation in using the tools is discussed

Manifestation determination can make a huge difference in an educational experience. This can be identified as a test that determines whether a student in special education is considered for suspension, expulsion or any alternative placement due to a behavior concern. Educators often forget to take into consideration whether or not an action manifests from a disability. This presentation will be used to focus on the total manifestation determination process and the different ways that we can help to support our students and their behaviors while in school. It is crucial for future educators to understand the function behind all behaviors.  

The MSUM Planetarium installed a programmable cove lighting system a few years ago. Up to now, it has mostly been run manually doing simple color fades and mixes.  As a computer science student, I took on the challenge of learning how to code this system. This included reading and understanding the manual, and a lot of trial and error. I have been working to create more and more complex programs to run the lights. This has been the most old and difficult system I’ve ever worked with. Come to hear about my struggles and successes as well as check out some cool lighting effects I have created! I will illustrate various effects featured in the Pleiades system, including chase effects and beautiful color shifts. Finally, I will discuss the pros and cons of using the system.

Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 is a chronic disease that is often associated with diet and lifestyle, characterized by hyperglycemia due to insulin resistance. Previous research has found risk factors for the development of Type 2 diabetes include increased weight, location of fat deposits, inactivity, family history, race, age, and stress level. Data assessing these risk factors was obtained from 67 college-aged students using the following measures. To determine weight and fat distribution of the subjects, large calipers (hip to waist ratio for females/chest to waist ratio for males) and a full body composition monitor were used. Family history, activity levels, race, lifestyle choices, age, and stress level were analyzed using a survey which was filled out anonymously by each subject. A glucose tolerance test was used to measure plasma glucose levels after a two-hour fast, and one-hour post glucose drink (Gatorade). Increased weight, greater visceral fat deposits, high stress levels, increasing age, sedentary lifestyle, having a racial background of non-Caucasian origin, and family history of the disease have been found to have a direct relationship with the development of Type 2 diabetes. Regression analysis is used to determine correlation between these variables and plasma glucose levels. Type 2 diabetes can lead to significant health issues including diabetic neuropathy, amputation, blindness, heart/kidney disease, and death if left untreated. Since there is a relationship between lifestyle and the development of type 2 diabetes, controlling weight, remaining active, and decreasing stress levels are important in controlling and preventing this disease, especially during aging.

Diabetes has been a rising epidemic for the people of the United States that are eighteen years of age or older. The type of diabetes mellitus that will be focused on is Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). T2DM is a chronic disease characterized by an elevation in blood glucose levels due to insulin resistance. This type of diabetes is not typically treated via pharmaceutical means, but better lifestyle choices. One of the biggest lifestyle changes that helps prevent T2DM is exercise. It has been found that a combination of aerobic and resistance training together has significantly decreased the risk of developing T2DM. The second largest influence on preventing T2DM is a person’s diet. It was shown by previous research that a diet consisting of high cereal fiber and unsaturated fats helped to reduce the risk of T2DM by up to 90 percent. Therapies and wellness programs have been indicative of higher prevention rates as well. It has been discovered that a person who adopts these programs are up to 40% more likely to reduce their risk of developing T2DM. Smoking has also been associated with the increased risk of T2DM. Current smokers have a higher risk for T2DM than those who were former smokers, but they still show increased risk than those who never smoked. Changing the lifestyle choices indicated above will greatly reduce the risk of developing T2DM.

Analogs of the Drug Antipyrine: Synthesis of Various 2-Aryl 1,5-dimethylpyrazolidines

Logan Spooner, Craig Jasperse

Antipyrine, a 5-membered pyrazolone ring including two nitrogens and a carbonyl, has been identified as an early-stage drug candidate for treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Our group is synthesizing analogs of antipyrine to better understand and optimize the spatial and polarity dimensions of the drug for improved IPF treatment.

Antipyrine has a phenyl group (C6H5) on the N2 position. I will be reporting on the preparation of variant forms of Antipyrine that involves different aryl substituent groups on the N2 position, while maintaining the N1 and C5 methyl groups. Different aryl substituents are added with varying substituents replacing a H, substituents that have differences in hydrophobic or hydrophilic character, variations in hydrogen bonding capacity, and variations in steric size.

I have worked out a general procedure to arylate 1,5-dimethylpyrazolidinone. The primary procedure for addition has used a copper (I) catalyst (CuI) in combination with diamocylohexane to enable reaction with aryl iodides. Inert gas (N2 or Ar) atmosphere is required for these reactions, and thermal conditions (100ºC) are used. Procedural details, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance structural characterization, and the range of acyl chlorides screened will be presented. The resulting pyrazolidinones will eventually be tested at Mayo Clinic to evaluate how the structural changes impact drug performance.

                Conservative treatment can be explained as the process of a patient’s recovery without the need for a surgical procedure. Patients that are not candidates for a surgical procedure must rely on a conservative treatment plan. The shoulder is the most complex joint in the body and is highly susceptible to injury. The shoulder complex is anatomically unique due to the many bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and other types of tissues within a confined area. Injuries such as dislocations, labral tears, or rotator cuff injuries may be treated conservatively. The purpose of this literature review was to examine evidence supporting conservative treatment for a wide variety of shoulder injuries. An assortment of modalities and rehabilitative exercises within a conservative plan of treatment can benefit these injuries. The results of this literature review concluded that conservative treatment may be beneficial for different injuries that do not require surgery. A lack of evidence exists to prove that a conservative treatment plan can be as effective as a surgical intervention for specific injuries.

This research examines the different genomic characteristics of phages. Phages could be a breakthrough in science and have several uses, especially in medicine, but it is essential to know their functions to exploit them. The phage used in this work infects Microbacterium foliorum and is called Raptus and was found during the Fall semester of 2019 from an environmental soil sample. The main goal was to decipher the genome of Raptus and sequence it. To do so, we first extracted the DNA from a several lysates. Then, we sequenced it and finally, using bioinformatics software, we analyzed the genome compared to other known phages. To have accurate results, we did multiple trials of DNA extraction and pooled sequencing data. The results will be presented including relationships to other known phages.

This research examines the behaviors of bacteriophages when exposed to different host bacteria. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and usually react to only one host, so exposing them to another one could help us determine the prevalence of broad vs. narrow host range among phages. The main goal was to expose eight phages to a new host bacteria, Gordonia rubripertincta, after studying their effects on the original host from the same order, but from another family of bacteria: Microbacterium foliorum. Eight phages were exposed to G. rubripertincta cultures and assessed for infection ability. The results will be presented, including virulence, plaques morphology and infection timing compared to Microbacterium foliorum. Once host ranges are determined, clues about the genomic characteristics of the phages will be investigated to reveal possible mechanisms.

Abstract

Type 2 Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar levels are elevated for long periods of time due to insulin resistance. As type 2 diabetes prevalence continues to increase many studies have been done to better understand the disease. Overall these studies suggest that higher abdominal fat, upper arm fat, and BMI are positively correlated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, while higher leg fat is negatively correlated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Many previous studies have found that higher abdominal fat is associated with a high risk of type 2 diabetes. People known to have type 2 diabetes were found to increase with higher body mass index and waist circumference. Higher arm fat mass was also found to be related to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Other studies have found a negative correlation between higher leg fat and risk of type 2 diabetes. Higher leg fat was found to protect against developing type 2 diabetes. This research prompted further questions concerning the amount of protection leg fat can provide against developing type 2 diabetes.

We can use neural networks to model any situation we come across. The problem is how do we apply these networks to approximate the solutions to these problems. What neural networks do best is using lots of data and optimizing around that data. We can model with this data to make accurate predictions on time series date like stock market predictions and language translations. Do these networks have a downside? Just like any other model, there are positive and negatives that we will go into detail. The only prerequisites required to make these networks work is coding/data reading, linear algebra, and multivariate calculus. This talk is a summary of how neural networks operate, what type of networks we can use to solve specific problems, how we can use neural networks to model, and a look at the benefits/disadvantages using these networks to model. We will also look at an example of a real life model.

This research consisted of a literature review and discussion of the efficacy of various pre-feeding assessments and interventions that help determine readiness and achieve successful oral feeding in infants. Assessing tolerance of feeding, profiling the infant’s developmental stage for feeding, and implementing pre-feeding intervention approaches all provide essential information that overall affect the infant’s oral feeding readiness, safety and feeding abilities.

The purpose of this research was to review the quality of life and relationships in adolescents with a cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P). This research examined factors such as satisfaction with appearance, coping strategies, and gender. This research will provide future professionals with further areas to investigate such as but not limited to, coping strategies, romantic relationships, bullying, and the value of teacher/parent involvement in the developmental process.

This study was formed to explore the effects of students engaging in secondary content unrelated to course material during class sessions and their perceived level of academic performance. The sample in this study will focus on first or second year college students enrolled in introductory psychology courses (PSY 113 and PSY 202). The method will be explored in two parts and analyzed separately. The first will be a spot observation report of the participants enrolled in the selected psychology courses. Researchers will observe and record how many times the students engage in secondary content unrelated to the course. The second part will be a self-report task. The participants will be asked to report their perceptions on multitasking while learning course material. The two parts of the study will both be used in reporting, but analyzed separately. Researchers hope to find data that supports the optimism bias. It is expected that students will underestimate that their levels of multitasking are frequent or negatively affecting their course performance.

The surfbirds have the longest and narrowest non-breeding distribution of any North American bird. They are found on the Kodiak Island in Alaska and the western Yukon, all the way down to the Straits of Magellan at the southern tip of South America, Chile and Peru. Their migration routes are almost entirely coastal. I will be trying to find out how the Surfbird’s migration pattern is affected by annual average temperature changes. More specifically, I will be looking for changes in migration location as well as seeing if the timing of migration is changing. I will be using my data set from E-bird on Surfbirds and conduct and exploratory data analysis. The variables I will compare are annual average temperatures, time of year and observations of surfbirds. I will be able to conclude wither or not migration patterns are staying the same, or gradually over time are changing due to climate change.

The purpose of our project is to make people feel more comfortable talking about their mental health. Mental health is a large area of concern in today’s society. In fact, there are many people who are either in denial or do not know where to go to get help for mental health. Using the Lean Start-up canvas with customer interviews, we converted our idea into the product of mental health subscription box. Customer interviews helped us discover the product “must-haves” and key insights. We came up with a prototype with key features including our subscription box “buddy” and messaging service that helps to find professional help. Overall, our mental health subscription box helps those ages 16-25 who want to better their mental health by reducing the fear of speaking out and enabling connections with those who struggle with similar issues. 
 

 

Beryllium (Be) is commonly used in the dental industry to make dental prosthetics such as bridges, crowns, and dentures. Dermal contact with Be particles during production of these dental prosthetics has been shown to cause beryllium sensitization (BeS). BeS is a public health risk because it has been shown to lead to Chronic Beryllium’s Disease (CBD), a granulomatous lung disease. It is unknown whether Be particles coming in contact with gingiva cause BeS. Since gingiva is a thin, mucosal lining similar to the skin barrier, we expect that Be sensitization can also occur via dental prosthetics. Mice will be used for this experiment as their environments and variables are highly controllable, as well as replicable. To mimic the natural wear and tear of dental prosthetics, we will use a cotton swab saturated with a diluted Be solution and massage it into the mices’ gingiva. Through analysis of the mice we will look for elevated immune cell counts to determine an immune response to the Be haptens. We will have a control group of mice that are not treated with the Be solution. We expect to find that the mice treated with the Be will have higher counts of immune cells indicating a sensitization to beryllium. If the results from this experiment show that Be sensitization can occur through contact with the gingiva, further research can be done to test for safer alternatives in humans. We hope to inspire trials and or testing for new materials to be used in dental prosthetics.

Type II Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a condition in which the cells of the body are resistant to insulin.  Recent research has illustrated a relationship between ageing and an increased risk of T2DM.  Both sexes experience hormone de-regulation in older age. Men experience a steady decline in testosterone levels and women experience menopause, in which they have an increase in testosterone and the alteration of other hormones. With the decrease of estrogen and other female-specific hormones during menopause, the sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) also decreases.  This allows for a higher bioavailability of free testosterone to circulate throughout the body, as it is continuously secreted by the postmenopausal ovaries.

The hormonal changes in both sexes produce an abnormal glucose metabolism in the cells, which increases insulin resistance.  This increases the risk of a general metabolic syndrome, which is characterized by central obesity and hypertension.  All of the risk factors associated with a general metabolic syndrome become intertwined and represent a major risk factor for developing T2DM after approximately 45 years old, which is when the ageing process is said to begin.

Substance abuse and addiction have been a growing concern within society for some time. Many people have witnessed abuse firsthand; whether it’s a friend, spouse or family member. There are news headlines about drug problems in specific cities, overdoses, and potential solutions to these problems. There is not much coverage on the abuse of substances within the athletic population compared to the general population. This literature review focuses on the prevalence of abuse within high school, collegiate, and professional athletics. The focus of this review is on alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, marijuana, and opioids. Several sources are referenced to provide statistics within each population, why some statistics may be higher, and solutions to said problems. Overall, research within this area was weak. A collegiate setting had the lowest rate of drug abuse, but a higher rate of alcohol consumption. High schoolers participating in a team sport have a higher chance of substance abuse compared to other sports. In the National Football League, painkillers are viewed as a quick fix to get a player back on the field to maintain profits. While it is good to bring awareness to this situation, there is not enough data available to determine whether substance abuse and addiction are a problem within athletics.

The purpose of this study was to gather information from a variety of qualitative and quantitative research in order to identify different types of communication modalities that are both beneficial and resourceful for children with a specific language impairment (SLI). The difference between a specific language disorder (SLD) and a specific language impairment (SLI) was addressed, along with SLI milestones, clinical decision making, and speech-language pathologist’s (SLP’s) communication with caregivers of children with SLI. Data from the literature reviewed in this paper suggested that augmentative and alternative communication and gesture speech integration were both beneficial applications of multi-modal communication.

Abstract:

Difference in gender is a crucial factor in immunological responses to diseases such as inflammation and asthma. Allergic asthma is a chronic respiratory condition of the airways characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness, eosinophilic inflammation, goblet cell metaplasia with associated mucus hypersecretion, and airway wall remodeling events. This study is a part of the ongoing project in Dr. Pandey’s lab and will answer a novel question: What effect does gender have in the distribution of IgG2 level in mice exposed to Aspergillus fumigatus? We will be measuring IgG2a levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and in the serum of male and female C57BL/6J mice exposed to Aspergillus fumigatus [SP1] at days 0, 3 and 28 by inhalation using the sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA) protocol. IgG is an antibody found in blood and other body fluids and it is indicative of an individual’s immune status to pathogens. We are especially interested in measuring the IgG2a  because it is an antibody produced in response to an allergy and it is found only in mice. This study is relevant because knowledge of the difference in responses to Aspergillus fumigatus in males and females will enable healthcare professionals to make more accurate diagnosis to patients of asthma when their immunoglobulin levels are tested. With differences in immunoglobulin prevalence in males and females, range of IgG2a in males might be different than in females, thus, the same treatment methods will not be endorsed for both of them.

DNA methylation is a form of epigenetic modification that can repress transcription by addition of a methyl group to the promoter region, the most common spot being the fifth position of cytosine (5mc). Methylation altering gene expression without changing the genetic code of DNA, is important for mammalian development. The mechanisms behind regulation of DNA methylation through development is still not properly understood. To identify how methylation is regulated through embryonic development we will use C57BL/6 mice. The amount of 5mc in the cerebrum of C57BL/6 mice from embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5) through postnatal day 0 (P0) from developing mice embryos will be measured to determine the extent of methylation. The mice will be euthanized and tissue will be collected via microdissection of the brain. The tissues will be then snap frozen using liquid nitrogen at -140°C and stored at -80°C to prevent degradation. We will be utilizing an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to measure the quantity of 5mc present in the developing cerebrums to determine the amount of DNA methylation. The data collected from the mice will be used to map the extent of methylation as embryonic development occurs. The information gained from the extent of methylation will allow us to build toward future research to determine the relationship methylation has with genes of interest and tumor suppression.

According to youth with disabilties in the juvenile justice system, 70% of the youth involved with the justice system have a disbaility. Our presentation will discuss statistics, ACES, student's motivation and current consequences within the schools causing this alarming statistic. The purpose of our presentation is to inform the public and discuss interventions to prevent student failure. Along with discussing the interventions, we will look into the factors leading to students not to reaching their full potential. We hope to seek postive changes within the educational environment to help students acheive their goals. 

Fluoride is a product of naturally occurring geological processes. Previous studies have shown a positive correlation between children receiving fluoride infused water and healthy teeth. I will analyze the correlation and hope to decipher other variables that could affect children’s oral health long-term. I will begin by pulled data from KIDS COUNT and further my data exploration as needed. I will be comparing the health of children’s teeth, the percent of children that had access to fluoride water, and the number of years the children have had access to the water. The experiment will continue by finding if there the number of dentists per country effects the number of healthy teeth among children. The scope will focus on the state of Minnesota on the county level. The data could help these children’s futures. Having healthier teeth as a child, makes for simpler cases as adults and elders. This data could aid in preventing serious diseases in one’s life.

Market share and profit margin determine company survival. In order to grow market share, a company must provide new, competitive models to avoid lagging behind market trends. This is accomplished by refreshing an existing product or developing an entirely new design with higher operating capacity or significantly lower costs. In order to offset the costs of developing and producing a new product within an existing product line, product cannibalization is often considered. Product cannibalization occurs when a company introduces a new product that displaces one of its existing products and reduces total sales. This research reviews data and research from 2005 to present to examine how a compact construction company can use this transition to maximize revenue. By analyzing the impact of these decisions, this research describes how to avoid or minimize negative consequences of product cannibalization and capitalize on available opportunities.

A Grimoire is conventionally defined as a textbook of magic, especially one that codifies talismans, spells, charms, and summoning.

“Magick” (as opposed to magic, the art of stage illusion) is as ingrained in humans as language, art, and desire. The oldest forms of magick were probably used to predict or influence a successful hunt, or to heal sick and injured people. The oldest written magick appears in cuneiform on tablets from ancient Mesopotamia. With the development of alphabetic language, magick evolved into more complex health and protection charms as well as methods to predict the future. When the cultures of ancient Macedonia and Egypt intertwined, more specific spells and charms, or even curses emerged. As magick evolved, it spread to nearly every culture around the world.

Recording magick expanded the art profoundly and its evolution is captured in grimoires. I will be addressing the influence grimoires and magick have had on civilization, and pose the following questions: How have grimoires affected society? What information may have been lost when witches and mystic healers were hunted? Did any of this information survive in grimoires? How can we carry this valuable knowledge into the future?

The Phantom of the Opera is Broadway’s longest-running show, totaling 13,000 performances and counting. While not every show will enjoy a run of this length, Broadway producers estimate how a potential show will perform financially in the hope that it reaches this benchmark. This research assumes Broadway producers consider both financial performance (revenues, average ticket price, and seat capacity sold) and consumer experience variables (critics' opinions, audience feedback, and Tony Awards outcomes) in decision-making and uses 2009-2019 data from Playbill (Playbill.com) to investigate the influence of these factors. Using an event study analyzing survival curves, this research considers the longevity of shows, measured in weeks, and determines how financial performance and consumer experience variables impact the length of the run.  Results of this research reveal insights in the context of Broadway, but may prompt other entertainment industries, such as film and television, to analyze survival curves in order to extend the life of media produced.

In our long-term study (2001-2019), western painted turtles (Chrysemys picta bellii) have been captured with basking traps in Clay County, Minnesota, to study population characteristics and behaviors.  Captured turtles were weighed, sexed, measured, notched, and PIT-tagged.  All turtles were released at a fixed-point on the shoreline of the slough where captured.  We are currently trapping three sloughs with less than one km between the two most distant sloughs. Over the years, there have been observations of the trapping success rates varying between days.  Our team has been interested in analyzing the factors involved with the varying success rates using our floating, sun-basking traps.  One of the factors that is believed to cause this difference is weather and temperature.  This project aims to examine the relationship between trapping success and temperature in hopes of finding correlations between the two factors and an optimal temperature range for trapping that can be utilized in future studies for predictions of trapping numbers. 

Autism Spectrum Disorder, commonly known as ASD, is a neurobehavioral spectrum disorder that inhibits social skills and nonverbal communication skills. ASD is commonly diagnosed at a younger age, however, it can be diagnosed at a later stage of life as well. There is significance to having a diagnosis in elderhood, which provides many answers about why the individual may be different than those who do not have autism. The purpose of the research was to look for patterns in how elderly people with autism cope with social challenges. A content analysis was used on replies to a web-based forum. The replies were used to identify these patterns, which helped to demonstrate the difficulties in the individual encounters with these challenges faced by the older population in the forum. There was individuality in the patterns found as well as generality. Codes were used to identify these patterns, which were the word count of each page of the replies and the number of times certain words were used, specifically if these words were used over six times.

One policy that has garnered much debate in recent years is the Affordable Care Act or more commonly known as Obamacare. This is a policy put in place by President Barack Obama in order to get more people covered with health insurance and at a cheaper cost. It has faced many challenges since it became law, Republicans have tried to repeal it for years and have no replacement for it. I will be covering the story of Obamacare from its passage, to its effects, and eventually to its current state. I will also examine what the intentions of the law were, its origins, the politics behind it, its implementation, and what Democrats are trying to do now.

Economic theory and global economies' experiences reveal the dangers of inflation at extreme highs, but in other contexts a defense of its necessity to exist and fuel growing economies emerges. In the case of the U.S., is the Federal Reserve taking too many precautionary actions when it comes to inflation and slowing the economy unintentionally? By conducting a literature review, this research examines U.S. monetary policy decisions from the Great Depression through the Great Recession to evaluate the timing and efficacy of these interventions. Through this historical examination, and by examining other countries' experiences with both high and low rates of inflation, this research concludes if current Federal Reserve policies are suffocating the economy or averting a major disturbance.

Researching sub-concussive forces in sport is a relatively new concept, therefore, evidence is limited at this time. A sub-concussive force is when the brain is shaken but not violently enough to damage brain cells severe enough to elicit symptoms. Further research can help sports medicine professionals understand sub-concussive forces and develop rules and regulations to decrease these forces. These forces can cause damage to the brain and other parts of the body. Learning how to diagnose and treat can help to understand how to detect them during a game or practice. The purpose of this literature review was to examine sub-concussive forces in sport and how they affect the body. A common research finding from the review found that most impacts occur during practices versus games. These forces were found to occur most frequently to the front of the head. Female athletes were observed to experience body impacts more frequently during play than males suggesting that a difference in the style of play may contribute to higher overall impact frequencies in females. Helmet and other equipment research includes examining a decrease in linear and rotational acceleration. In the future the information gathered on sub-concussive forces could be used to adapt the rules and regulations for sports such as; football, men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s lacrosse, and men’s and women’s soccer. Additional research on sub-concussive forces would be beneficial in order to fully understand the impact of these forces and how they affect the brain.

When the business activities span over a multi-state footprint, after a certain threshold, business travelling becomes an increasing liability. The man-hours spent on travelling and/or travelling-accommodations leaves most employees exhausted and vulnerable. Therefore, less productivity.

In a scenario where physical presence is paramount, as a remedy, should you fly-private instead? Is there a tax benefit? Is it a luxury or a utility? Or, should the status quo remain unchallenged?

Coffee production is a large part of Costa Rica’s economy with its exports making up a significant portion of the world’s coffee. Without responsible agricultural practices in Costa Rica, coffee farming could pose a threat to some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. We will discuss the impact of the coffee industry on the surrounding environment, methods coffee producers use to ensure the sustainability of their environment the industry along with it, as well as the outlook for sustainable coffee farming

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) has become a mainstream problem in the United States in recent years. With the increasing number of obese people, there is a positive correlation between obesity and T2DM. There are two different types of cellular phenotypes of white adipose tissue: hyperplasia (many, small fat cells), and hypertrophy (few, large fat cells). Hypertrophy is associated with insulin resistance. An increase in visceral adipose tissues shows an increase in insulin resistance. Women tend to have more fat distribution in hips and thighs, whereas men have more central fat distribution. Women also have more subcutaneous fat whereas men have more visceral and ectopic fat. In older females there is an increase of testosterone, which is strongly associated with unfavorable body fat distribution and increased glucose and insulin concentrations. In reverse, older men have a lower amount of testosterone, which is also strongly associated with unfavorable body fat distribution and increased glucose and insulin concentration. Larger hip to waist ratios are indicators for a greater risk for T2DM in both sexes. Having more visceral and ectopic fat is a greater risk for insulin resistance and so men are at greater risk for T2DM. Different factors associated with T2DM in men and women are BMI, Waist to Hip ratio, waist circumference, abnormal testosterone levels, location of fat, and type of fat cells.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC’s) are substances in the environment that interfere with the normal function of your body’s endocrine system. They do so by mimicking or blocking the receptors for certain naturally occurring hormones in our body, preventing the hormones from functioning correctly. Specifically, EDC’s have been shown to be prevalent in lakes, rivers, and streams due to agricultural runoff (pesticides), road runoff (plasticides), and treatment through wastewater facilities. The Red River of Fargo provides water to many residential and commercial areas in the Fargo Moorhead area and has been subject for study as the Red River has shown consistently high levels of Estrogen. Our study will be a continuation of this research; we will be comparing estrogenic activity from two points in the Red River- upstream and downstream of the Fargo Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (FMWTTP) as well as to a control aquarium water. We predict that the downstream samples of water will have significantly higher levels of estrogen as the FMWTTP has shown to increase levels of estrogenic activity in the water. As compared to previous data samples, we expect the January 2020 samples to have higher levels of estrogen as the FMWTTP is now treating West Fargo’s water supply as well. The levels of Estrogen in the water will be analyzed using an ELISA test, which will chemically test for the presence of the hormone. In addition to the ELISA test, we will be analyzing the water using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to test for estrogenic activity.

The purpose of the study is to propose a conceptual framework of experimental design to examine framing effect on pricing strategy in offering different online information sets of accommodations to Generation Z travelers: 1) monetary discount (dollar-off and percentage-off), 2) non-monetary discount (complimentary service), and 3) information structures (different displays of discount information – visual information vs. text information, and combination of discount information). For proposing the experimental design framework, this study reviews the literature and develops relevant hypotheses to propose a model to examine the framing effect of the two dimensions of promotion (monetary and non-monetary) online and effective information structures online. This study expects a dollar-off discount framing strategy and offering visualized information would be more attractive to Generation Z travelers compared to other discount framing strategies. Moreover, Gen Zer’s perceived value for complimentary service may be devaluated its actual value compared to dollar-off, although the actual value of complimentary service is higher than dollar amounts.

The purpose of my research conducted was to examine the speech and communication characteristics in individuals who have Down Syndrome. My research reviewed many published, peer-reviewed articles pertaining to Down Syndrome. Individuals who have Down Syndrome display many speech and language difficulties due to structural abnormalities, cognitive abilities, and hearing impairments. My research dove into communication strategies to supplement verbal speech, such as but not limited to, sign language, speech-generating devices, and visual scene displays. From the support of the research, individuals who have Down Syndrome have shown to make substantial strides in their speech and language skills through the use of multiple modes of communication. The research I have examined will show the benefits of using multi-modal communication and provide specific examples of success for individuals who have Down Syndrome. 

The chronic disease of diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that causes serious concern. There are multiple types of diabetes known with the most popular being type-1, type-2 diabetes, and neonatal diabetes. Type-1 diabetes is when the body does not produce enough insulin. Type-2 diabetes is when the body produces enough insulin, but the body doesn’t respond to it. Neonatal diabetes is a diabetes that develops before 6 months that has two subtypes: transient and permanent. Diabetes is a multivariable disease with many factors affecting it. Two factors that determine how susceptible and severe the disease will be in an individual include genetic predisposition and age of the individual. In individuals with type-1 diabetes, 3 genes are looked at for susceptibility. These are HLA-DR, HLA-DP, and HLA-DQ which can account for over half of the genetic risk of developing type-1 diabetes. For type-2 diabetes family members were followed over generations and only associations between calpain 10 and hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha and type 2 diabetes were found. Neonatal diabetes has a gene that is responsible for two thirds of all TNDM cases. This gene is known as chromosome 6q24. Neonatal is also age related because only people under 6 months can get it. Age of diagnosis of type-2 diabetes is independently associated with macrovascular events and death. The papers demonstrated that genetics has a big role to play in the development of diabetes. It also provided evidence that age has an impact on diabetes prevalence and severity.

Food waste has been one of the greatest problems all over the world. Between one third to one half of the food gets wasted globally. In the United States only, up to 40 percent of the food is never eaten. At the same time, one in eight Americans struggles to put enough food on the table. Wasted food isn't just a social or humanitarian concern, it is impacting the environment in a bad way. Wasting food means wasting all the energy and water it takes to grow, harvest, transport, and package it. And if food goes to the landfill, it produces methane—a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. About 11% of all the greenhouse gas emissions that come from the food system. In the US alone, the production of wasted food generates the equivalent of 37 million cars’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions. Technology, on the other hand has solved and is in the process of addressing many problems like this. This paper focuses on reviewing literatures that has worked on solving food waste problem through technology. Emerging technologies like mobile application, Internet of things (IoT), Image processing and many more are helping to save food from getting wasted. Many countries including Dubai and Malaysia have already been able to reduce the food waste through those techniques.

Timing of Emx2 expression in brain area patterning

Jonah R Vigilant, Tyler D Edvall, Neeju Singh, Adam Stocker
 
During the early stages of telencephalon development, the developing neocortex goes through the process of area patterning. Area patterning allows for groups of neurons to specialize in specifically functionalized sensory areas which serve the purpose of receiving and processing sensory information. The homeodomain transcription factor, Emx2 has been identified as vital for the modulation of this process. In previous studies, changes in the size of the sensory areas were found in the mice with Emx2 deleted using Emx1-IRES-Cre. This Cre driving mouse line is used because deletion is restricted to the developing neurons in the telencephalon and it provided the earliest possible telencephalic deletion. While prior studies have utilized the Emx1-IRES-Cre mouse line to enzymatically remove specific target genes (Emx2 in this case), our study aims to use Foxg1-IRES-Cre, a new Cre line developed recently for this targeted deletion. Foxg1-IRES-Cre causes Emx2 deletion a day earlier than the Emx1 Cre-driver line. In using Foxg1-IRES-Cre (which deletes Emx2 at embryonic day 10) and comparing the subsequent results to those obtained using Emx1-IRES-Cre (which deletes Emx2 at embryonic day 11), our goal is to determine whether Emx2 modulates brain area patterning early or late in its expression window. If it is early, then we expect to see a more pronounced effect with the Foxg1-IRES-Cre line. If the activity is late, then we expect no significant difference between the changes observed in Foxg1-IRES-Cre and Emx1-IRES-Cre mouse lines.

TLR4 is associated with the expression of transcription factor NF-κB, which regulates several cytokines involved in innate immunity [1]. The inflammatory responses are not evident in the TLR4 deficient mice suggesting that TLR4 plays an important role in the neuroimmune responses led by ethanol [2]. Ethanol treatment altered the expression of some miRNAs that targeted neuronal excitability but not in TLR4 KO mice [11]. Binge drinking was also found to be lowered the in TLR4 KO mice [4].

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by progressive scarring of the lungs. Most patients succumb to respiratory failure within an average of three years from diagnosis despite the availability of drug therapies. Pirfenidone, an FDA approved drug, is an oral anti-inflammatory agent which reduces the rate of progression of the fibrotic process and extends the lifespan of affected patients. Although pirfenidone has been shown to reduce the decline in lung function, there are still significant challenges associated with it, such as unknown mechanism of action, low potency and high cost. Antipyrine, an analog of pirfenidone, has been identified as a possible alternative to pirfenidone in the treatment of IPF.  We will be assessing the toxicity of antipyrine as well as a variation of antipyrine, 4-aminoantipyrine, which possesses a hydrophilic modification via the addition of an amino group at the carbon-4 position. Toxicity will be evaluated in an A-549 cancerous lung epithelial cell line; it will be determined using a Vybrant MTT cell proliferation assay kit with chromogenic end point indicators. Establishing toxic levels of antipyrine and 4-aminoantipyrine is a first step in identifying them as possible drug candidates with increased efficacy and decreased cost. Identification of these novel compounds will provide a more targeted therapeutic approach in the treatment of IPF, thereby improving patient symptoms and quality of life.

Few animals are better adapted to urban settings than tree squirrels (Family: Scuiridae). The Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) campus has a diverse landscape that provides habitat for tree squirrels from 2 of the 3 major species of Minnesota, the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). These species tend to prefer different habitats and have different spatial needs. Red squirrels are highly territorial and are often associated with coniferous trees, whereas grays tend to be less territorial and associated with deciduous trees. Our objective is to understand how these two species partition limited territory/resources in an urban setting.  This project started in summer 2016 when 8 adult squirrels (5 gray females and 3 red males) were live-trapped,
PIT-tagged, and fitted with radio-telemetry collars.  In 2017 and 2018, additional squirrels were radio-collared.  Most recently, in September/October 2019, we radio-collared 1 additional adult male gray squirrel and 1 adult female red squirrel.  We captured an additional 3 adult gray squirrels (1 male and 2 females) and 3 adult red squirrels (1 male and 2 females), but they were not radio-collared.  Current effort is focused on tracking how the radio-collared squirrels partition the land and utilize resources. GPS coordinates were taken of original capture locations and subsequent radio-telemetry positions.  We plan to continue live-trapping and radio-collaring squirrels during spring 2020.  Neighboring Concordia College researchers have radio-telemetry collars on the same species of squirrels.  Future work could investigate if our squirrels are visiting their campus and vice versa.

Alcohol is one of the most used drugs in the world and current estimates state that one out of every six adults in the US binge drink at least once per week. Alcohol’s effects on the brain cause an overall rise in inhibitory signaling that persist only for several hours, but how binge consumption of alcohol can lead to addictive behavior is still not well understood. Recent research has pointed to the activation of the innate immune system triggered by alcohol consumption as being a pivotal step in the development of binge alcohol addiction. Through a cascade of effects, ethanol triggers proinflammatory cytokine release in the CNS leading to chronic excitotoxicity which is detrimental to homeostatic function of the brain. Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNFalpha) is a proinflammatory cytokine that is found in high concentrations in alcoholics’ brains. It is thought that overproduction of this cytokine during states of excitotoxicity could be disrupted by blocking its positive feedback loop. MicroRNA (miRNA) function as post-transcriptional modifiers that can enhance or block molecular pathways. Specifically, miRNA-17 in other diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, has been shown to downregulate the overproduction of TNFalpha during proinflammatory response. We propose that upregulation of the miRNA-17 could be a promising therapeutic approach to mediating the excitotoxic long-term effects that alcohol has on the brain. Returning the brain closer to basal levels of excitatory signaling will reduce the need for substances such as alcohol to combat excitotoxicity caused by the innate immune response. 

The objective of this project is to analyze the cinematography of the late Japanese director Seijun Suzuki and his continual resonance of influence on film. A pioneer of Japanese New Wave, Suzuki’s ability to visually captivate audiences with low-budget, entertainment-over-logic productions, helped to break the traditional molds of Japanese cinema and society. Ultimately creating a stylistic flow which trickled into the styles of Hollywood directors today. Suzuki directed over 40 films in his life but over the course of his filmmaking he went through definite stylistic phases signifying the evolution of his directing. To best capture the spirit of Suzuki’s cinematography I will be studying the three films that he believed were turning points in his filmmaking: Tokyo Drifter (1966), Branded to Kill (1968), and The Bastard (1963). Although a majority of his films were crime genres with gritty topics, he utilized color and jarring camera angles to evoke humor and eye catching compositions. After studying the films I will distinguish the unique techniques utilized then juxtapose them with Hollywood directors today. This will allow me to learn more about where the inspiration for the stylistic choices of genre blending directors like Quentin Tarantino and John Woo stem from.

The main purpose of this project is to study the amount of destruction that occurs in action films before and after the events of September the eleventh. The research that was conducted poses the question, how have action movies changed since 9/11? Ten action films that were made prior to 9/11, and ten that were made after will be watched as a part of this research. When analyzing these films, quantitative data was collected for: how many buildings are destroyed onscreen, the number of onscreen casualties, and the number of explosions. People should find this study interesting because it demonstrates how world events can have an effect on art.

            In contemporary American politics, there exists a heated debate surrounding healthcare and the costs its services and industries extract from the patient. This has been a major concern for both parties, as all constituents have an interest in having affordable healthcare. Policy from both sides has the consistent goal of lowering the out-of-pocket cost of medical services, with much of the focus on the cost of drugs. The Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act establishes several new requirements which state that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) must negotiate prices for drugs such as insulin. This paper will examine the implications of this policy, as well as the processes and politics that have affected it. The bill was introduced by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. and garnered unanimous support among Democrats, but nearly all Republicans were opposed to the bill.

In America, 0.2 percent of the population (552,830 people) experience homelessness.  Homelessness, as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, occurs when a person lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and sleeps in a shelter designated for temporary living accommodations or in places not designated for human habitation. An additional challenge for this population is that 35 percent of these persons are unsheltered, meaning that they are in places not intended for human habitation, such as sidewalks, parks, cars, or abandoned buildings. The research literature highlights several explanations of homelessness including mental illness, addiction, income distribution, and the supply and demand of housing. Using publicly available data, this research examines the costs and benefits of policies directed toward reducing homelessness and determines the effectiveness of these solutions. Given that the social cost of a chronically homeless person was $35,578 dollars in 2017, this research could assist in targeting funding where the return on investment is strongest.

People do not eat breakfast as much as they should be. Our breakfast solution would help those who are on-the-go, middle-to-upper working class that desire a quick, affordable, deliverable, and convenient breakfast food and beverages. We used a Lean Canvas and Customer Interview approach to build our business model around the needs of potential customers. During our research, we discovered that our service definitely needs to be cheap. People are only willing to pay $4-6 for the meal, plus a few extra dollars for the delivery fee. On the positive side, many people would consider our service as a first choice because of the delivery option. Additionally, this service would help people improve their breakfast habits and actually start eating meals in the morning to jump start their day. Our study shows that our breakfast services could help middle-to-upper working-class citizens who wish to improve their breakfast habits by increasing easy, affordable access to and by providing healthier and heartier morning meal options.

Chlamydia trachomatis is a common sexually transmitted infection. It is caused by a kind of bacteria that can infect sexual organs. Chlamydia often produces no symptoms, and if left untreated can lead to other complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease, vaginal discharge etc. This disease has an enormous infection rate and is the most common reported STD in the United States. The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence of chlamydial trachomatis (CT) infection in different counties, and evaluate how and why the rate of STI has changed over the past years. We will be using public health data provided by the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP). We will be using exploratory data analysis to analyze the data and compare the number of chlamydia cases per 100,000 population over a few years. This comparative study may provide insight to why reported chlamydia cases continue to increase, despite efforts to diagnose and treat the infection. Our findings have significant implications for local government to design evidence-based programs to reduce the spread of this disease and improve reproductive health.

Transcription factors (TFs) are proteins responsible for regulating gene expression. These proteins regulate the process of gene expression by controlling when certain genes are upregulated or downregulated, and ensure appropriate amount of genes are expressed in each cell. During embryonic development, homeodomain transcription factors have been shown to play important roles in imparting cellular and regional identity. The homeodomain transcription factor, Emx2, is responsible for regulating many important developmental processes including area patterning, migration, lamination, and cortical specification. Previous studies have investigated changes in transcription following deletion of Emx2, but these studies were done at late embryonic stages when Emx2 activity has decreased. The transcriptomic based studies also fail to provide information on the abundance or diversity of protein products. In this study, we will be utilizing label-free proteomic analysis by ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to examine any changes in protein expression between different embryonic brains of Emx2 mutant mice. Brains were harvested at embryonic day 13.5, and preserved using a snap freeze protocol. A nestin promoter driven overexpression and a cortex specific deletion mediated by Emx1 driven Cre-recombinase of Emx2 were compared to control tissues with intact endogenous Emx2 expression. Differences in protein expression and abundance will be explored.

The purpose of this project is to enlighten users in regards to the concept of privacy presented by the use of electronic devices in this decade. The problem that we face is ignorance towards some outcomes when using electronic devices. This problem is what motivates this project. To address this problem, this project aims to analyze and present to users how their devices share personal information via a user friendly interface.

This will be of great importance to individuals who value their privacy and of great interest to individuals that are possibly ignorant (due to the nature of information systems) towards the ways of our everyday electronic devices and how they communicate personal information without our knowledge and control.

Tempo analysis for audio files exist today, but the study is not perfect. This project is an attempt to create a rudimentary program that can detect the tempo of a music file. In terms of design, this program has the user in mind from the beginning which is why it focuses on having a UI element and visible, real-time graphs. The beats per minute detection is based on a logarithmic algorithm which is mainly effective in most BPM ranges. So far, results have shown that detecting BPM is possible, yet not reliable.

A new prairie restoration was planted at the MSUM Regional Science Center nearly four years ago. The site, which we call Houston, has since been maintained by the DNR by mowing and burning. Prairies have evolved with regular wildfires and grazing, and native plant communities are known to benefit from both. The restoration site’s first and only controlled burn took place in spring of 2019 as a means to control invasive weeds and help native plants grow. I will be looking at changes in the plant community resulting from the burn using total biomass and species diversity data collected pre and post-burn using Nutrient Network protocols. Data will be analyzed in RStudio as part of an exploratory data analysis project. This will be important as a measure of the restoration’s success and will further understanding of the effects of controlled burning in the early phases of prairie restoration.

The Nutrient Network (NutNet) is a global collaborative project researching the effects of nutrient deposition in grasslands by directly applying factorial combinations of fertilizers (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) to experimental sites using identical protocols. Each site is split into three blocks, with ten plots in each block, and four subplots in each plot. We have established two NutNet sites on the prairie restorations at the MSUM Regional Science Center, and only one has had fertilizer treatment applied. For that site, we will be analyzing how excess nutrients have affected plant biomass and species diversity compared with control plots, and whether differences in light availability at the ground level is related to a change in species diversity. Analyzing these community dynamics can have implications for our future understanding of nutrient deposition in natural areas.

During recent years, there has been an influx of fantasy movies with women as the leading protagonist. However, are these heroines being depicted as the role models for their audiences, as they’re intended to be? We aim to help others gain an understanding of how leading female protagonists overcome their personal adversities. Common characteristics we’re looking to find are bravery, courage, self-acceptance, and honesty. In our research, we will view movies as Brave, Alice In Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman, and The Princess and the Frog; and taking note of the methods the lead protagonists use to overcome their adversities and obstacles. 

Most often it is thought that urban areas contain poor species richness of almost all groups of animals. This of course includes the birds, which often have a very noticeable presence wherever they occur. Are urban and more developed areas really only the dominion of crows and pigeons, or could it be a more complicated situation? The question I will perform an exploratory data analysis to answer specifically then is: do urban counties in Minnesota have greater bird diversity than rural counties, and does the number of reporters per county influence the perceived bird diversity? To answer this question I will utilize the eBird dataset provided online, and compare urban counties species count with rural counties, cross-referenced with the raw number of reporters of birds to the checklists. Counties with a population of 40,000 or more will be considered urban. The county population data will be gathered from U.S. Census Bureau data. By comparing the species count by county and the number of reporters of birds, it may be possible to synthesize a more clear picture of the influence development has on bird species richness, or if it is negligible and more influenced by the sheer number or reporters available in an area.

Peace Kocikada
Pol 341
Dr. Headrick
2/13/2020
Obama’s Clean Power Plan
This paper examines President Obama’s Clean Power plan created through the regulatory powers of the Environment Protection agency in August 2015. The purpose of this plan was to reduce carbon pollution from US plants which is believed to be the largest source of pollution in the country that’s driving dangerous climate change. The paper examines both the politics and process tied to this attempt at the first national policy aimed at fighting climate change. It will also cover the benefits of the plan to the environment and how President Trump is trying to replace the plan.

Developing general Java application for the restaurant.

The study examines how Twitter activity can affect box office activity as well as examines the top five tweeted-about 2018 film titles, cross referencing them with the top grossing film releases of the year. Specifically, the study analyzed the content of the tweets to see if they were directly related to a movie’s content or if they were about some other indirect element (analysis, controversies, memes, etc.). Our hypothesis was that the amount of Twitter activity surrounding most titles would mostly peak during the film’s release weekend, and respectively increase and decrease before and after that weekend.

Fish and other aquatic life use chemical compounds dissolved in water to guide their behavioral decision-making. Fish use their sense of smell to find food, orient to spawning grounds and for detecting mates. They also use odors to gain information about the presence of predators. Fish release chemical compounds from damaged skin after being attacked by a predator. These chemical compounds are called “alarm cues” and notify other fish of a predator in the area allowing for anti-predator behavior such as fleeing the area, seeking shelter, or reducing activity. Fish also undergo internal physiological changes to the presence of alarm cue to prepare for the “fight or flight” response in the event of a direct encounter with a predator. A previous study showed that cortisol, the “stress hormone”, increases by a factor of 7.4 times after a fish detects alarm cue present in a solution prepared from skin extract of a member of their own species. Because the cortisol response in fish is biochemically identical to the cortisol response in humans, we have a good model system with which to study fear, anxiety and post-traumatic stress in humans. This study is intended to test the question “Does one encounter with a predator (near-death experience) cause prey to anticipate additional encounters, leading to hyper vigilance and reactivity to future threats (PTSD)?”

In 2019 Minnesota House of Representative introduced Bill HF12, an act relating to health that would prohibit conversion therapy as it pertains to minors under the age of 18 and vulnerable adults. If the bill is enacted it will amend Minnesota Statutes 2018, sections 256B.0625, prohibiting medical professionals and religious counselors from preforming conversion therapy or advocating the misrepresentation of conversion therapy services and products. The bill would also forbid insurance providers from funding conversion therapy practices. The bill is currently in its 1st engrossment and sits in the Minnesota House. This presentation will further address the process of the HF12 bill, detailing the founders of the bill while outlining the oppositional arguments surrounding the highly controversial bill.  

This presentation focuses on how Prohibition effected women's lives in 1920s America. I argue that women gained autonomy in this era in many different ways. Speakeasies had a major impact on their display of public sexuality. Women dared to smoke cigarettes and drink cocktails in public; they wore their hair bobbed and used bright red lipstick, which was incredibly counter-cultural at the time. There was also one of the world's first mass public movements made by the women's crusade, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Anti-Saloon League. This was also a time for Women-owned (illegal) businesses. Three women in particular in New York City ran some of the most popular nightclub-style speakeasies. Typically, when we think of women in prohibition, we think of the WTCU and those against prohibition. While these women played a huge role, the women of the speakeasies have just as an important place in history. 

Pop-up books are intricate works of art that bring illustrations to life with a turn of a page and add new dimensions to reading. The interaction of three-dimensional images and text has the power to fascinate people of all ages. Pop-up books create a whole new kind of reader experience compared to the conventionally structured book, changing the pacing of the text and adding new sensory elements to encounter while reading. In this paper, I lay out the history of this type of book as well as the intricate and time-consuming process of creating pop up structures. I will also examine the scholarship addressing the effect that pop-up books have on children’s reading comprehension and literacy as a book medium.

Mental health in children between the age of 2-17 is a nationwide issue affecting twenty-one percent of children in the United States according to the 2016-2017 NSCH survey. The NSCH survey includes children who have one or more emotional, behavioral, or developmental conditions in the United States. The factors playing a role in children’s development of mental health issues include household income, family demographics, physical health, emotional health, and insurance coverage to name a few. The most common mental health issues in children and adolescents are attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, anxiety disorder, and depression. My question is what effects cause children to become more prone to have mental health issues in the United States. I will be using the data set “Children who have one or more emotional, behavioral, or developmental conditions in the United States” from Kidscount using the 2016-2017 year survey. To answer my question, I will be doing an exploratory data analysis on household income, family structure, medication received, and mental health insurance coverage. The results found on which factors affect the mental health of children the most could help physicians and parents to focus on these specific areas and potentially help decrease the susceptibility of children from acquiring mental health issues.

Alcohol has been consumed for centuries; Despite its widespread use, alcohol's effect on mechanisms regulating cellular function is not well understood. Alcohol is linked to immune suppression and has positive or negative effects on the immune system depending on the dose of ethanol ingested. Large amounts of alcohol intake in mice affects the innate immune system by inducing a short term pro-inflammatory state and longer-term anti-inflammatory state. During pro-inflammatory state mast cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and cytokines-all work together to combat inflammation caused by infection. We will test various doses of ethanol and their effect on the function of the immune system in mice challenged with Aspergillus fumigatus. A. Fumigatus is a fungus that causes an infection primarily within the lungs, in turn causing an inflammatory response within the immune system. The mice will be exposed to A. Fumigatus, thereby compromising their immune systems. We will then expose the mice to varying doses of ethanol and measure the immune response that occurs. The proposed results of our experiment will show that higher doses of ethanol will correlate with decreased innate immune response to the respiratory inflammation caused by A. Fumigatus. This study could help further understand the effects of alcohol on the body pertaining to our immune system.? 

Defacing a book, whether by writing notes, scribbling, drawing, or underlining, is often considered an appalling act of vandalism. Yet mark making in the margins, known as marginalia, has been a common practice since the advent of script. Practiced by everyone from students to poets to doctors to scribes and monks, marginalia provides a unique opportunity to examine the history of reading, especially regarding the relationship between a reader and text. As the practice of reading developed to become a more private activity rather than a communal one, marginalia followed suit, becoming more specific to the owner of the book and providing insight into the private thoughts of the reader. No matter the form of mark making, marginalia presents evidence of interactive reading, representing a reader’s dialogue or engagement with a text. This paper focuses on this relationship between a reader and text and will analyze the psychology behind the practice of marginalia. The paper begins by examining the history of marginalia and how it has played a role in the history of reading. Subsequently, this paper will focus on contemporary examples of marginalia, as well as provide examples of well-known marginalia.

U.S. food consumption expenditures away from home have risen from 19% of total food consumption in 1955 to 48% in 2015. During the same time period, female participation in the labor force increased by 52.7 million women from 35% to 57%.  Women earn higher wages which increases the value of their time. Amidst this trend, time spent planning meals, shopping for groceries, and preparing meals is a larger monetary sacrifice for female labor force participants than past generations. The economics literature documents that the opportunity cost for women to make meals is increasing, and food consumption away from home is cheaper than food at home in terms of time. Using publicly available data, this research relies on regression analysis to examine socioeconomic factors influencing the rise in U.S. food consumption away from home. Results will be useful to those in the food production and service industries interested in better positioning themselves to market their products to consumers experiencing these trends.

The aim of this research is to use computational chemistry methods to model unimolecular decomposition reactions of a variety of related halogenated hydrocarbons. This was done by optimizing the geometries and calculating the vibrational frequencies of the reactants, products, and transition states, followed by calculating the minimum energy path for the reactions. These calculations were performed using Gaussian software at the B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,2p) level of Density Functional Theory (DFT). The reactions will be compared to each other as well as known experimental values of enthalpy changes, activation energies, and geometries.

Zacharias Kunuk is an Inuit filmmaker who has made an effort to create cinema in his native Inuit language while living in a settler nation. This projects aims to explore if the effect of colonial mimicry can be found in two of his films, which are based off previous sources. Comparing two of Zacharias films, Maliglutit, inspired by a western source, and Atanjuat, The Fast Runner, based on a non-western source, will create a clear dynamic to focus the research on. By analyzing both films through production choices and style, as well as relevant critical and cultural readings the goal will be to discern if there is a noticeable impact between the films and whether that is an example of colonial mimicry.

The brain starts out as a collection of neuronal precursors that are derived from embryonic stem cells that give rise to neurons with non-specific axonal connections. Throughout the process of maturation, certain axonal connections in the brain are removed as the neurons become specialized. This process, known as brain area patterning, allows for groups of neurons to specialize in particular functional areas. As entailed, sensory areas serve the purpose of receiving and processing sensory information. The transcription factors Emx1 and Emx2 have demonstrated the unique ability to influence the size of the primary visual area (V1) in mammals. The deletion of one of those transcription factors in mice causes similar phenotypes, a shrinking and posterior shift of V1. However, we do not understand how they work well enough to propose a clear mechanism. Is their action distinct or cooperative and dose-dependent? To understand how it works we will be examining double heterozygous animals, where the same number of alleles have been removed, to test the mechanism. The results will then further elucidate the relationship between the two genes.

Even though grassland restoration increases connectivity among grassland patches and increases total amount of grassland land cover, it may not always provide habitat for grassland wildlife. For example, restored grasslands near the edge of a species’ distributional range may be less suitable than restored grasslands in the center of a species’ distributional range. Here we compare the abundance of Grasshopper Sparrows on neighboring native and restored grasslands in the Bluestem Prairie grassland complex in Clay County, near the northeastern edge of the species’ distribution. We surveyed birds at 16 points on the Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area and 12 points on the Minnesota State University Moorhead Regional Science Center. During early summer 2019 we conducted five 10-min surveys on each point. We used an N-mixture model to estimate bird abundance on each grassland while accounting for the effects of percent grass cover on abundance and the effects of date, time of day, observer, and other variables on detection probability. We made 51 detections of Grasshopper Sparrows, with naïve abundance estimates ranging from 0 to 3 birds per point. Model-predicted abundance increased with percent grass cover, with abundances at 100% grassland cover reaching 2.9 birds per point (SE=1.8) on native grasslands and 4.3 birds per point (SE=1.8) on restored grasslands. Our results show that at this site abundances are higher on restored than native grassland and suggest that restored grasslands near the edge of a species’ range may be just as suitable as restored grasslands elsewhere in its range.

Grasslands are an important part of Minnesota. Grasslands are home to some crucial species that are native to grasslands, but many of those species have been declining. One of these species is the grasshopper sparrow. Surveys were conducted during the summers of 2018 and 2019 to determine the detectability of grasshopper sparrows in Minnesota. I will also be using eBird data to determine the probability of detection of grasshopper sparrows throughout the year. A variety of factors will be considered when determining the probability of detection of grasshopper sparrows. Factors such as time of year, observer, wind speed, and cloud cover are all part of the factors that help determine how these factors affect the probability of detection.

Grasslands are an important part of Minnesota. Grasslands are home to some crucial species that are native to grasslands, but many of those species have been declining. One of these species is the grasshopper sparrow. Surveys were conducted during the summers of 2018 and 2019 to determine the detectability of grasshopper sparrows in Minnesota. I will also be using eBird data to determine the probability of detection of grasshopper sparrows throughout the year. A variety of factors will be considered when determining the probability of detection of grasshopper sparrows. Factors such as time of year, observer, wind speed, and cloud cover are all part of the factors that help determine how these factors affect the probability of detection.

Grasslands are an important part of Minnesota. Grasslands are home to some crucial species that are native to grasslands, but many of those species have been declining. One of these species is the grasshopper sparrow. Surveys were conducted during the summers of 2018 and 2019 to determine the detectability of grasshopper sparrows in Minnesota. I will also be using eBird data to determine the probability of detection of grasshopper sparrows throughout the year. A variety of factors will be considered when determining the probability of detection of grasshopper sparrows. Factors such as time of year, observer, wind speed, and cloud cover are all part of the factors that help determine how these factors affect the probability of detection.

Merlin’s are small falcons with wingspans of 53-58 cm (21-23 in), the females are slightly larger. They mainly eat small birds they catch in flight. These birds are normally found in grasslands forests and coastal areas. However, recently there have been an increasing number of sightings in urban environments. By looking at the amount of birds observed in rural and urban environments over time, I will determine if there is selective pressure for these birds to utilize urban areas. In order to do this, I will be using data from www.ebird.org and do an exploratory data analysis to test the trend. If there is a push for these birds of prey to move into the cities, it could affect the number of songbirds as well as other small birds found in these environments.

Suicide is the act of killing oneself intentionally. Child suicide is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. There are various factors leading to the child suicide directly or indirectly. Children grown up with abuse, on going family conflicts, lack of family connectedness have higher risk of suicide. I will study the factors associated with child suicide in Minnesota. The data sets are from the Kids Count. I will compare the number of child suicides with number of children abused and neglected, children under poverty, children raised by single-parent and children raised in foster care. There might be various other factors influencing child suicide, but these are basic factors affecting children.

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This paper will cover the implementation of Minnesota’s Safe Harbor Law and various evaluations on how well it is working around the state. The Safe Harbor Law was enacted in 2014 and was put in place to protect minors who had fallen victim to sex trafficking. Prior to the Safe Harbor Law many of these children were seen as juvenile delinquents and criminals, but with the law in place these children were to only be addressed as survivors and victims of sexual exploitation. Since the enactment of the law, sex trafficking arrests have doubled, trainings and conferences are more frequent, and so much more. This paper examines the Safe Harbor Law’s implementation and how it has helped children get out of the sex-trafficking industry through its enforcement around the state.

People’s socioeconomic status affects many portions of their life, and those who do not have a high school diploma or GED are especially at risk of living in poverty. It is yet unknown how socioeconomic status affects natality, but the answer can be found in the Minnesota County Health Tables. In this data set, there are high school drop out rates, poverty rates, birth rates, and fertility rates for varying regions of Minnesota, and by using exploratory data analysis I can prove a correlation between socioeconomic status and birth rate. The expected results are that there is a strong correlation between these two variables, which could be further delved into by asking more questions as to why that would be the case, and if there is something we as a society needs to improve on.

This poster presentation covers optimization for voxels. They can be thought of as three dimensional pixels. Vo coming from volume and xel from pixel. Voxels are just values placed in a 3D grid. Voxels have many interesting uses in the medical and scientific field, especially in geology. One use in computer science is storing world information for video games or graphical applications. One very popular example is Minecraft, a game that allows all of the world to be changed, that uses cube shaped voxels.

The first topic will be on the naive approach of building a model from a Minecraft like voxel, face merging, and greedy meshing. These are techniques to improve performance and reduce memory consumption. Face merging is combining flat surfaces into a single polygon. An example is combining multiple touching rectangles into one larger rectangle. Greedy meshing is an excellent algorithm to do this by minimizing the rectangle count.

The second main topic is about reducing disk space usage. Multiple compression algorithms will be compared using real Dwarf Fortress data. This is a game similar to Minecraft that also uses voxels for world data. Some algorithm examples are run length encoding, Zlib's deflate compression, and CCITT (Huffman) Encoding.

This study included a review of recent literature regarding positive and negative outcomes in speech and vocal abilities in adults with Parkinson’s disease who have received deep brain stimulation (DBS). Studies were located that addressed the effects of DBS for articulation, voice, phonation, motor speech tasks, deglutition, and velopharyngeal control.

Along with many other factors, countless organisms’ immune systems are affected by sleep and the circadian rhythm. Cytokine secretion, a critical component of the immune response, is under circadian influence. This study intensely focuses on the pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α and IL-8, which recruit neutrophils and other granulocytes to injury or infection sites. Exposure to melatonin, a hormone that induces sleepiness, has been found to raise TNF-α and IL-8 levels. Although examined separately, few have researched the combined effect of sleep disruption and melatonin exposure on an immune response. This study concentrates on TNF-α and IL-8 expression when exogenous melatonin is paired with sleep deprivation in zebrafish exposed to tailfin injury. Our results showed there was a significant increase in TNF-α expression in zebrafish exposed to melatonin while sleep deprived. For uncut controls and TNF-α, and IL-8 levels measured at two timepoints (3 and 6 hours post tailfin injury), Real-Time qPCR was utilized. Melatonin is a readily available over-the-counter therapeutic for sleep deprived individuals. These results may alter therapeutic and diagnostic decisions, especially for persons with inflammation problems or autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis. The purpose of this research is to acquire insight about the way the human immune system and inflammation are affected by melatonin exposure and sleep deprivation in response to trauma. 

Every year, individual hummingbirds migrate north in the summer and south in the winter, researchers believe that they do this in response to environmental changes, such as the duration of daylight and flower abundance. I will be looking at the abundance of species in one location, for a year, to find the peak of the migratory season for each species. I will be using r studio and the eBird datasets to do exploratory data analysis to compare each dataset. The data was collected and compiled into datasets by the eBird science team. I believe that the data will show a slight difference in the peak of migration for each bird species. This data can help scientists look more into the behaviors of hummingbirds, and what drives those behaviors.

Throughout history, women have been treated less than men. Specifically in STEM fields, there is a higher number of men participating and making ground breaking discoveries. As three women in math, we set out to learn more about this topic. 

The purpose of this research is to use computational chemistry to model unimolecular decomposition of 1,1-dichloroethene into HCl and HCCCl. This was done by computing the optimized geometries and vibrational frequencies of the reactant, products and transition state, followed by computing the minimum energy path for the reaction using various levels of theory and basis sets using the Gaussian computer program. I hope to identify which method will yield the best agreement with the experimentally measured enthalpy and activation energy as well as other theoretical results. 

For my poster presentation, I will be presenting a financial analysis on Universal Health Care, Inc. I have gathered and analyzed various information regarding Universal Health Care, Inc. and have put it in a report. This report includes sections on the company description, investment decision summary, management and corporate governance, shareholder analysis, industry analysis, investment risk, peer analysis, historical financial analysis, prospective financial analysis, and valuation and investment decision. I have used various sources to collect information for each of these sections including Mergent Online, Yahoo Finance, and the company’s webpage. For the conference, I plan to have my report available and a standup poster with certain highlights from the report. 

Sustainability and land management are currently important topics. One of the tools used in these fields is normalized difference vegetation index or NDVI. It measures the difference between red light and infrared light reflected by vegetation and can help determine environmental health in reference to plants. I will look at a variety of factors to see how they might affect NDVI values. The variables I will be considering are population data, land cover, location, precipitation, and soil moisture/temperature using data from Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS). I will be using exploratory data analysis to determine whether my variables have any impacts on NDVI values throughout Minnesota . I am hoping to conclude either positive or negative correlations between each variable and NDVI to be used by environmentalists for monitoring environmental health and making decisions in land management.

The Lewis acid tris-(pentafluorophenyl) borane (BCF) and different phosphorus Lewis bases exhibit high steric hindrance due to the large size of their substituents.  Nitrous oxide is a small linear polar molecule with greenhouse gas potential that is capable of being bound between the acid and base of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs).  Multi-nuclear nuclear magnetic resonance analysis of a solution containing the aforementioned inter-molecular Lewis acid base pairs after exposure to nitrous oxide gas show unique chemical shifts indicative of likely coordination of nitrous oxide.  Attempts to further characterize the structure and reactivity of these FLP-nitrous oxide complexes will be reported.  Successful capturing of nitrous oxide by a novel FLP system would represent both an improvement in the understanding of frustrated Lewis pairs ability to capture small molecules and methods of determining the presence and concentration of nitrous oxide.

When we start talking about artificial intelligence, questions like “is there a place for AI in medicine”, “Will doctors one day be replaced by robots”. Also, these days, health care is trailing other industries in the acceptance and application of AI. So, this topic would try to converge the ideas behind the use of complex algorithms and software to emulate human cognition in the analysis of complicated medical data. In detail, it would tell about the ability of computer algorithms to approximate conclusions without direct human input. This report would try to answer those questions

In a long-term study that began in 2001, western painted turtles (Chrysemys picta bellii), have been live-captured in three separate sloughs near Rollag, Minnesota, utilizing floating/basking traps in an effort to study population dynamics and behaviors. Once captured, measurements including weight, plastron length, carapace length/width/curvature, and sex were recorded. To identify re-captured turtles, PIT tagging and notching were utilized in adults and juveniles had their carapace painted with distinguishing symbols. Our research focus here is to compare the time-interval (in years) from initial capture to the most recent capture by size class and sex of the western painted turtles. PIT tagging was not implemented until 2006, so our study will only include turtles that were PIT-tagged between 2006 and 2019. We want to see if the average time span in years varies between males and females and also between size classes. We hope our study sheds some light on longevity/survival in painted turtles in northern climates and if size and/or sex plays a role.

In an urban setting, many animals struggle to live compatibly with humans while other species adapt very well.  Canada geese (Branta canadensis) in the Fargo (ND)-Moorhead (MN) area are one of the latter species. American Crystal Sugar (ACS) Company contacted Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2010 to build a partnership to humanely lower the goose population with hopes of lowering the Escherichia coli (E. coli) levels in their water-holding ponds.  These ponds provide an ideal habitat for both migrating and resident goose populations as their water remains open year-round. Since 2010, each spring students conduct counts of goose numbers, locate and monitor nests, and oil most of the eggs to prevent further egg development and subsequent growth of the goose population. Over the years, we have noticed a definite trend of decreasing amounts of nests and goose visitors compared with the previous year. In 2019, we found only 9 nests compared to 2010 with 123 nests and 2013 with 52 nests. Unfortunately, long-term effects of this management process are mostly unknown. We have noticed as goose numbers have declined, the duck numbers seem to be increasing.  On average, in 2015 we counted 55 ducks per day and in 2019 this increased to 101, with 252 ducks being our highest count for any one day.  However, we found no duck nests on the property.  Research is planned to continue in Spring 2020.

More states are gradually being added to the list of those with legalized physician-assisted suicide. The topic of euthanasia is highly debated, with one side seeing the consensual end of one’s life as mercy, and the other seeing it as a cruel way of avoiding problems the ill person faces. The process of public policy legislation is composed of many stages and is affected by many factors. In this presentatiom, I will focus on the California End of Life Option Act passed in 2016. I will discuss why the policy is debated, the legislative process it went through, the broader implications of the policy, the politics of the issue, and how its legislation process compares to that of other states.

A security camera implementation using raspberry pi. 

Microbial diversity can be measured by exploiting the genetic variability between taxa (species) to determine the number (richness), relative abundance (evenness), and functional groups (guilds) present in a community. Commonly, biotic factors have been used in studying microbial diversity and their influence towards microbial growth. However, the effects of abiotic factors such as soil temperature has not been explored in as much detail. Our objective was to determine a correlation between soil temperature and microbial diversity that extends beyond biotic variables such as plant life. To address this problem we used a sun vs shade environment model. Soil samples were taken 2-4 inches below the soil surface where more sun exposure likely increased the average soil temperature. DNA was extracted from the samples and sequenced for the 16sRNA gene, which indicates the extent of diversity. We expected that samples taken from higher average temperatures would have increased microbial diversity as compared to samples from lower temperature areas. With limited insight into the effects of abiotic factors such as temperature on microbial diversity, there are unforeseen consequences to ecosystems from the effects of a warming climate. This study provides cause for increased attention to abiotic factors when investigating the future of ecosystems.

One of the most popular path finding algorithm is known as the Dijkstra's Shortest Path First algorithm. As a beginner’s step to algorithm and starting to understand how they work I decided to make this visualizer that show in action how the path finding algorithm works in action. The understanding of this algorithm gives you the base idea of how navigation tools are implemented.  In this visualizer I have a grid page that has nodes that helped to pin point where to start and the end point. Also we can draw a line between the start node and the end node to make a barrier and see how our path will avoid it to reach the end node. To make this visualizer you need to be at least an intermediate level in front end programming (HTML, Nodes, CSS) and a good understanding of the some path finding algorithm.

The purpose of this project is to examine how Native Americans are using online platforms/documentaries to educate and preserve their history, and how they are using these platforms to protest the Dakota access pipelines. Indigenous groups in America have felt left out of important political and environmental conversations that directly impact them. Documentaries films provide an opportunity to change that.

Documentaries being produced by Native Americans are examining the continuing of traditions, land preservation, and environmental concerns. The documentaries this study examines are Awake and Eagle and the Condor, as well as news coverage and youtube shorts. These documentaries and videos are being shown at film festivals and have caused meaningful conversations on the problems that are facing Native people today. Are these projects being shown to people like politicians or representatives who could help them get a seat at the table in terms of government policies? Are they changing the narrative around Native American stereotypes? These documentaries are becoming tools for indigenous persons to have a voice, and provide education and their perspective to issues, specifically in this project, the DAPL controversy.

Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) involves multiple professions working together to reinforce positive learning experiences to expand the knowledge of individuals while providing better care. Evidence suggests that academic programs that include content on IPE prepare students who understand the role of team members in patient care processes. Faculty members have a significant role in planning, designing, and implementing new curriculum changes in health programs. Purpose: This research project aimed to explore attitudes and perceptions of faculty members towards inclusion of IPE in health care programs at a university setting. Methods: This study utilized a qualitative research methodology where participants were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Efforts were made to collect data from faculty members who have been working in different health programs at a public university in Minnesota. The interviews consisted of open-ended questions that aimed to explore: (a) how faculty at a public university located in Midwest US define IPE (b) importance faculty members place on including IPE in the curriculum in health profession programs (c) resources available to implement IPE in online & on-campus programs (d) challenges faced while including IPE in curriculum. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyze the collected data. Results: Initial data analysis suggests that faculty members consider IPE extremely important for preparation of the future generation of health care leaders. By including IPE in curriculum, faculty members have been able to emphasize that effective teamwork requires a mentality of collaboration and the fresh outlook that all team members can contribute to patient well-being.

We have done the electrochemical experiments with the aim of finding the effect of the chlorine on the chemical activity of nickel in the silicate melts. Understanding the effect of chlorine is potentially important because understanding the nickel activity allows us to predict and model changes in magma that takes place in planetary interiors.

We did experiments in two composition both diopsidic in character but in one substituting chlorine with oxygen. We used a Cypress Model CS- 1090 potentiostat, in which changing activity of NiO in the melt is measured in-situ as a function of the voltage at which NiO is reduced. We put sample in the furnace, and we did the experiment for the first 30 minutes looking for a shift in the voltage and we would associate that shift in the voltage with the loss of chlorine in the experiment.

We did not observe much shift in the voltage. Thus, our experiment tells us that the effect of chlorine must be less than something other.

This paper examines the enforcement of immigration laws aimed at those who are already in the US without documentation. It focuses on the differences in enforcement over multiple presidential administrations as well. The paper examines what each administration asked of the enforcing agencies and why. The paper examines both the process and the politics tied to the enforcement of immigration laws. 

Every small animal has to deal with predation at least once in their life. Aquatic organisms detect the presence of danger through chemical cues released by damaged skin tissue when one of their own species is injured in a predator attack. In zebrafish, Danio rerio, chondroitin sulfate has been identified as an active ingredient in alarm cues. Exposure to raw skin extract produces behavioral avoidance behaviors (instinctual natural fight or flight mechanism) and also a cortisol response. In this experiment, we test if chondroitin sulfate alone is sufficient to cause a cortisol response in zebrafish. If the chondroitin sulfate does produce a cortisol response, it will add to the growing evidence that chondroitin sulfate is a key component to minnow alarm cue, and also provide an experimental tool for using chondroitin sulfate solutions as a replacement for skin extract alarm cues for studying the behavioral and psychological responses to risk and anxiety.

   Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) remains one of OWASP’s Top Ten web application security risks. In XSS attacks, a vulnerable web site is exploited, enabling an attacker to inject malicious code such as JavaScript into the web pages. When an unsuspecting user visits the web page, execution of the malicious code will occur in the user’s web browser and may result in stolen session cookies, unauthorized modification of the website, etc. There are three main types of XSS attacks: Reflected, Stored, and DOM-based. In reflected XSS attack, unsafe code from the victims’ browser is sent to a web server, and then returned to the victim’s browser, where it is executed. The web server returns the malicious code to the client as part of its error handling procedure. On the other hand, stored XSS occurs when unsafe code is sent to the web server, where it is stored and accessed by users, later, causing it to execute in the victim’s browser. In the DOM-based type, the attacker uses the DOM environment to make changes to the original client-side JavaScript causing the victim’s browser to execute the embedded malware. XSS vulnerability is highly exploitable, prevalent and detectible. There has been significant effort made in developing methods to detect, prevent and/or mitigate XSS attacks. While the impact of XSS is moderate for both the reflected and DOM-types, it is severe for the stored type. This work will describe two methods for preventing XSS attacks and will highlight their benefits and limitations.

According to a 2016 update by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. is currently one of the leading exporters of intellectual property in the world, with total exports increasing from $775 billion in 2010 to $842 billion in 2014. Given the nation's high level of exportation of intellectual property to other parts of the world, each with their own cultural climate and ethical standards, varying levels of risk related to intellectual property infringement exist. This research reviews literature from 2010 to 2019 to analyze industries and markets where the risk of copyright infringement is prominent in intellectual property export decisions. Results reveal recommendations for investors to consider when comparing alternative international trade risks associated with the exportation of intellectual property.

Many people use computers and smart devices on the Internet of Thing (IoT) networks without truly understanding how they work or what they can do. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to demonstrate how edge devices used gateways to connect to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT platform and show what the AWS IoT platform can do. For this project, a Raspberry Pi 4 will act as a Gateway for the robot that connects all the camera sensors, motion sensors, and temperature sensors to transfer those data to the AWS IoT platform for analytic purposes. The robot will have facial recognition that allows it to track and follow users while avoiding other objects in the environment. With the help of Amazon SageMaker, it is possible to train and deploy my machine-learning model to the robot very quickly. Users can use voice assistants like Alexa, or an Android application to make the robot perform a certain task. A Bluetooth speaker will also connect with the robot to allow users to get current temperate and humidity of a surrounding environment when they request. In conclusion, the IoT platform and cloud computing services like AWS is a great invention because it helps to speed up the development process of training a machine learning model and developing smart devices. With the help of could computing services, it opens a new area where a single developer could design such a large-scale smart devices project in just a few months. 

Smoking or secondhand smoking has various health effects on a person, especially on pregnant women. Smoking while pregnant exposes that individual and the unborn child to an increased risk of wide range of problems such as miscarriage, premature birth and twice as likely to give birth to a low birth weight baby. Low birth weight babies are at greater risk of death and more vulnerable to infection, breathing difficulties and long-term health problems in adulthood. So are births to mothers who smoked during pregnancy associated with low birth weight in Minnesota? I will be using data sets from KIDS count in which I will be doing an exploratory data analysis in R comparing the percentage of births to mothers who smoked during pregnancy and low-birth weight babies by county in Minnesota from 2015 to 2019. I would expect babies born to a mother who smoke during pregnancy to have a higher chance of having low birth weight. 

The Red River Valley was formed as a result of glacial lake Agassiz. Transported silt and clay deposited in the bottom of the ancient lake resulted in a vast flat region near the center of the basin. Significant topography exists near basin margins where a series of shoreline complex deposits are located. To assist in the recognition of features such as shorelines and offshore bars, we used GIS and machine-learning algorithms applied to digital elevation models (DEM) of the region. We utilized a topographic position index (TPI), slope, aspect, and several additional surfaces created from the DEM using ESRI ArcGIS as independent variables in the models. Polygons were made on the features which are both likely and unlikely to be offshore bars to “teach” the algorithms how to identify the offshore bar features. Then, we generated random points within each polygon, and extracted the raster values associated with TPI, aspect, slope, and curvature. The resulting prediction surface is capable of detecting subtle characteristics of shoreline complexes which cannot be easily identified in the original DEM. Model results indicate that we can adequately predict offshore bars and shorelines (R² = 0.71, Estimate of Error Rate = 31.6%, AUC = 0.97). Moreover, it can identify those features from roads.

Being a Computer Science major, I wanted to apply my skills in mobile application development to create an Android app that would help waitors and waitresses track and grade their performance at work. Server Score will allow the user to enter statistics at the end of a shift at a restaraunt. Consisting of tip percentage, number of guests helped, hours worked, and more, these statistics will give the user an overall score rating their performance. Since the app will always store this data for a specific user, Server Score will also be able to make predictions on the users daily income, how busy the restaraunt will be, and how well the user is improving. There are around 2.5 million waitors/waitresses in the U.S. alone and I believe that Server Score will give them a sense of security and will them stay aware of their performance in the work place.

The purpose of this project is to analyze the cinematographic techniques used in kung fu movies that were produced by Shaw Brothers Studio from 1967-1981. The study specifically examines films produced by Shaw Brothers Studio and directed by Chang Cheh, including The Assassin (1967), Shaolin Temple (1976), and The Sword Stained with Royal Blood (1981). These films were made across a fifteen year time frame. Therefore, they provide the opportunity to identify cinematographic techniques that were popularized through how frequently they were used and meanings they suggest. The project hypothesizes that dominant cinematographic techniques in Shaw Brothers' films became more mainstream as a result of the kung fu genre rising in popularity over time and that these techniques can be referenced even in contemporary Chinese cinema. 

How do we determine the nationality of films from colonized countries? Senegal was under French control for 300 years before achieving independence in 1960, right as the earth-shattering French New Wave grew. Senegal's own film industry required substantial help from Europe's technicians and audiences in order to succeed. While Djibril Diop Mambéty's films include scenery, characters, and themes that are distinctly Senegalese, the stylistic choices he employs are often borrowed from film languages originating in countries outside of Senegal. In assessing his most critically acclaimed films from various points in his career—specifically, Badou Boy (1970), Touki Bouki (1973), Hyenas (1992), Le Franc (1994), and The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun (1999)—this project explores the relationship between the opposing European and Senegalese influences in Mambéty's work.

Many international students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities find it difficult to socialize with members of the host culture. This research investigates this phenomenon at Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM), an institution that reported an international student enrollment of 228 students (approximately 3.02% percent of student population) from 48 countries in spring 2020. Using a survey of international students at MSUM, this research considers variables (self-esteem, campus involvement, socialization with international students, perceived discrimination, and perceived cultural gap) cited within the research literature that are believed to contribute to intercultural socialization. This study's findings can increase awareness among students, staff, and faculty at MSUM in order to enhance the educational experiences of both international and domestic students.