Program for the Spring 2019 Multidisciplinary Research Day


DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

Empirical Projects

Atkins, Kaitlyn . THE WORLD OF OAK TREES.
Oaks are not only a keystone species, but have an \r\nimportant ecological and industrial roles within \r\nthe various paces you find these big trees. Oaks \r\nare native to the northern hemisphere. They \r\nprovide many animals with food and resources \r\nthrough out their various habitats. Oaks wood is \r\nused for a variety of goods that people use \r\neveryday. Some examples are to make wine barrels, \r\nfurniture and many everyday utensils. Oak wood is \r\nvery hardy and strong which makes it easy to work \r\nwith. With the diversity of these oak species \r\nthere are two distinct types which effects their \r\nleaf and acorn structure between the species. This \r\nalso makes it easier to identify which leaf goes \r\nto which tree. This is to inform you about how the \r\noaks play a key role in society and ecologically.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. BARTA

Boss Shawn, Lamey Lyndsay, Bashaw Benjamin, Roy Tilottama. INVESTIGATING PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE NORTH AMERICAN FALSE FOXGLOVES.
The genus Agalinis, belonging to the family Orobanchaceae is native to the Western Hemisphere, with around 40 species distributed across temperate North America, and a large group native to Missouri and the Midwestern United states. About 21 species of this genus warrant conservation measures. We utilized molecular methods, and bioinformatics tools, to understand the evolutionary (phylogenetic) relationships among the different species, taxonomical sections, and subsections within this group. Our study corroborates to previous studies and indicates the North American Agalinis to be a strongly supported monophyletic group.
Faculty Sponsor: TILOTTAMA ROY

Bremer, Robert. WHITE OAK TREES.
My Poster will be discussing information regarding White Oaks Natural history and problems that relate to the population of to the existing populations of White Oaks in the United States.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. C. BARTA

Bremer Robert, Thorne Chase. OVERVIEW OF THE MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION.
In this poster we will be talking about the structure and the policies that the Missouri Department of Conservation face. Along with policy we will be discussing the legal aspects and more in depth about levels of power within the Department.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. C. CHEVALIER

Aaron, Hagen, Stephanie. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.
The poster covers the ins and outs of Yellowstone National Park's mission, goals, and organization. We discuss the legal history, it's organizational structure, responsibilities, activities, and much more.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY CHEVALIER

Brown, Jeremy. MICROBURST AFFECT ON PLANT RICHNESS.
The neotropical rainforests of Central America are some of the most diverse in terms of plant species. The primary factor that determines if a plant will be able to grow and thrive is the availability of sunlight. A microburst is a storm that is strong enough to sheer trees in half, opening the forest floor to sunlight. The La Selva Biological Research Station experienced a microburst in the summer of 2018. Line transects were used to determine species richness in the affected areas. It was determined that the microburst had no significant effect on total species richness
Faculty Sponsor: CARISSA GANONG

Campbell, Kaitlyn; Lammoglia, Gabrielle; Herron, Jackie; DeShazo Madi. MACROINVERTEBRATE ABUNDANCE VERSUS WATER VOLUME IN HELICONIAS.
Some species of heliconia plants form bracts that hold water (phytotelmata), which provide habitat for many macroinvertebrate species. We tested whether phytotelm water volume affected macroinvertebrate biodiversity and abundance. We measured the water volumes and recorded macroinvertebrate abundance and diversity in 39 bracts. Results support our hypothesis that macroinvertebrates would be more abundant in bracts with more water, and diversity. Our results show that habitat structure impacts species abundance.
Faculty Sponsor: CARISSA GANONG

Copenhaver, Maggie Teegarden, Dailee Ziegler, Annie. COMPARING SPECIES RICHNESS AND ABUNDANCE IN RAINFOREST VS OPEN AREAS IN COSTA RICA.
As part of a BIO 220 trip to Costa Rica, we conducted a two-day project to test whether open versus rainforest had greater species richness and abundance of birds. We hypothesized that rainforest areas would have higher species richness, but open areas would have a higher abundance and Shannon’s Diversity index. We surveyed six locations at La Selva Biological Station, three in open areas and three in primary rainforest, and recorded the number of bird species and number of individual birds in each location during a 10-minute interval. T-tests indicated that species richness was significantly higher in open areas, but abundance and diversity did not differ significantly between habitats.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARISSA GANONG

Guttikonda, Sai Tharun Kumar. EXAMINING THE MECHANISM OF CHYTRIDIOMYCOSIS IN FROGS.
Chytridiomycosis is an infectious disease in \r\n\\r\\namphibians caused by the fungi \r\nBatrachochytrium \\r\\ndendrobatidis. \r\nChytridiomycosis is considered an \\r\\nimmediate \r\nthreat and gathered attention due to \\r\\nrapid \r\nspread which resulted in the death of many \r\n\\r\\nfrogs around the world. In this poster, we \r\nwill be \\r\\ndiscussing the mechanism of fungi and \r\nthe \\r\\nprogression of the disease.
Faculty Sponsor: DR MARK MILLS

Kafer, Lauren & Warden, Kaitlyn. EFFECTS OF PROBIOTIC BACTERIA ON INTESTINAL EPITHELIAL CELLS.
VSL-3 is considered probiotic bacteria found in yogurt and supplements. Probiotics have been found to restore the balance of normal gut flora and also can be used to reduce the symptoms of irritable bowel diseases. Colon epithelial cell cultures CMT-93 (mouse) were treated with live bacteria culture media, or with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a positive control. The expression of selected pro- inflammatory and anti-inflammatory genes were evaluated for each treatment using reverse transcription and PCR or immunofluorescent staining. Probiotic bacteria did not significantly alter cell viability. Absorbance values indicated no significant difference between control, LPS treatment, and probiotic treatments. The data found that VSL#3 did not show significant induction of translocation of NFkB to the nucleus, indicating that VSL#3 did not strongly activate this pro-inflammatory signaling pathway.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. KRISTEN WALTON

Lamey Lyndsay, Bashaw Benjamin, Roy Tilottama. HISTORICAL BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN FALSE FOXGLOVES .
The genus Agalinis, belonging to the family Orobanchaceae, is native to the Western Hemisphere, with around 40 species distributed across temperate North America, and a large group native to Missouri and the Midwestern United States. About 21 species of this genus warrant conservation measures. Our study is the first to investigate the biogeography of this genus in temperate North America. We utilized molecular methods, bioinformatics tools, and fossil calibrations, to understand the diversification timings and ancestral areas of this group. Our study points to south eastern United States as the place where the Agalinis clade had their center of diversity in temperate North America, from which they spread to the rest of the United States and even migrated to Canada, around the mid- Miocene period.
Faculty Sponsor: TILOTTAMA ROY

Lindsteadt, Audrey and Par, Esther. COSTA RICAN BIRDS.
La Selva has a great biodiversity of birds with 493 species. The purpose of our research was to compare the amount of birds in the rainy and the dry season. Along with the seasons, we will compare location to see which site has more birds. We observed birds in the morning and afternoon of two days and found there were more birds seen on the sunny day, but more species on the rainy day. We also found there were more birds and species in open areas. Additionally, we used other birders’ data from ebird.org to compare seasons.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARISSA GANONG

Lindstrom, Devon; Schank, Zachary; Curran, Mandy; and Owens, Demetria. TURTLES IN TROPICAL STREAMS! .
Five turtle species are found at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica with the Black Wood Turtle being the most common turtle. On a study away trip to go to Costa Rica, we decided to trap turtles in stream habitats to determine species composition. Twelve traps were set in the morning and were allowed to sit overnight before being collected. Only two turtles (both being Black Wood Turtles) were caught, along with a diverse array of stream inhabitants. More time is needed to get a clear picture of the turtle diversity, but early sampling holds promise for future studies.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. MARK MILLS

Devon Lindstrom, Rachael Prawitz, Brian Jenkins, Mackenzie Helsel, Kyle Constable, Neiley Karns, Jesica Phelan, Bethany Bolander, Steven Bilby, Jeremy Brown, Reid Brown, Alexander M. Duryee, Danielle. DARK ADAPTATION ENHANCES THE EFFICIENCY OF DNA EXTRACTION FROM MATURE PIN OAK LEAVES.
Oak species (Quercus sp.) have been frequently reported to be some of the most challenging species to obtain high quality and quantity DNA from. In particular, mature leaves, although abundantly available during the developmental cycle of plants, are rarely exploited as viable tissue source for genomic DNA extraction, due to their high carbohydrate, polyphenolics, terpenoid and other secondary metabolite concentration. These molecules are difficult to remove during standard DNA purification, and carryover contamination directly interferes with downstream molecular genetics applications. The goal of the current work was to assess whether exploiting the natural, in vivo, cyclic day- and nighttime differences in the metabolic profile of mature oak leaves could compensate for the typical difficulties encountered when isolating DNA from mature pin oak (Quercus palustris) and other species’ leaves.
Faculty Sponsor: DR CSENGELE BARTA

Magana, Courtney Morris, Megan Sims, Amanda. THE EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON CATALASE REACTIVITY IN POTATO AND KIWI SUBSTRATES.
The purpose of this experiment was to measure the reactivity of catalase when hydrogen peroxide was added to potato and kiwi extracts at varying temperatures. The volume of foam produced by introducing hydrogen peroxide to our substrate samples was measured once every minute for a total of 5 readings. This experiment was conducted at three different temperatures. The secondary purpose of this experiment was to compare the amount of catalase present in kiwi fruit versus potatoes.
Faculty Sponsor: BARTA, CSENGELE

McGuire, Vanessa. THE EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON VACCINES: SAFETY, POTENCY, AND EFFICACY.
An evaluation of the effects of exposure to temperatures outside the temperature storage requirement on vaccines and what this means for vertebrates.
Faculty Sponsor: MARK MILLS

Vuksan, Bojana. Gannaway, Madison. Charles, Stephanie. VARIOUS TYPES OF CAFFEINE ON SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE .
Systolic blood pressure measures the pressure in your blood vessels when your heart beats.Caffeine may cause a substantial elevation in your blood pressure. It is believed that caffeine may possibly obstruct a hormone that helps keep your arterial blood vessels expanded. This experiment investigated the effects of caffeine from coffee and an energy drink on systolic blood pressure.
Faculty Sponsor: BARTA

Internship/Practicum Experience

Barnett, Nathan. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW.
During this school year I used my free Thursdays to complete my internship with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY D. CHEVALIER

Boothe, Josiah. INTERNSHIP WITH LOESS BLUFFS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE.
Overview of my time with Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Various duties will be presented that I took part in along with on-going research projects I helped with.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY D. CHEVALIER

Lee, Brian. INTERNSHIP WITH THE NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT OF FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS.
Overview of my time and tasks preformed while working with the Natural Resource office at Fort Leavenworth, KS.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY CHEVALIER

Ziebarth, Guthre. INTERNSHIP AT LOESS BLUFFS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.
An overview of my internship at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge. This project will look at the acctivities I was involved with while completing my internship.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY CHEVALIER

Literature Reviews

Abrahamson, Levi; Smith, Chad. ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK FOUNDATION.
This poster supplies information containing the mission, goals, involvement with other agencies, and several other important factors pertaining to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY CHEVALIER

Barnett, Nathan. Poole, Matthew. NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION.
The National Wild Turkey Federation is a national leader in conservation of habitat, wildlife and heritage. This poster summarizes how this non-government organization plays its part in conservation and wildlife management.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY D. CHEVALIER

Boothe, Josiah; Romaker, Bailee; Ziebarth, Guthre. OVERVIEW OF THE ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME.
Overview of the workings and policy issues the Alaska Department of Fish and Game go through on a day to day. The presentation will go over the organizational structure, responsibilities, policy issues, activities, etc. of this Alaskan state government department.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY D. CHEVALIER

Boothe, Josiah. PLANT MORPHOLOGY OF THE SAGUARO CACTUS.
The general overview of the Saguaro Cactus. \r\n\\r\\nPresent the plant morphology, taxonomy, uses, \r\n\\r\\ndistribution, and threats to this particular \r\n\\r\\ncactus species.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CSENGELE BARTA

Briscoe, Aaron. THE MIRACULOUS BAOBAB TREE.
This poster I have created is a brief introduction \r\n\\r\\nto those who view it of what the Baobab tree \r\nis. \\r\\nThe poster was based off of a paper I am \r\nwriting \\r\\nover the Baobab genus and its general \r\nmorphology, \\r\\npractical uses, and connection \r\nwith the people who \\r\\nlive around them.
Faculty Sponsor: BARTA

Campbell, Kaitlyn. ORCHID (ORCHIDACEAE).
This is a literature review over the family Orchidaceae. In the review I \r\ngo over the distribution of orchids, their morphology, \r\nimportance/uses, and then threats to the orchids.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. BARTA

Darling, Nicholas. A REVIEW OF THE GENUS PICEA, SPRUCE.
Genus Picea is an important part of ecosystems around the world. We will look specifically at the Spruce species in North America, specifically within the midwest region. We will look at how Spruce species interact within their environment, how humans use it, and problems facing them currently.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. BARTA

(Davis, Sarah)(Glore, Caitlin). THE ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS AND AQUARIUMS (AZA).
This project is about the non government agency, The Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This project discusses the background, goals and other aspects of the AZA such as how they make policy for zoos to follow to ensure the organisms in their care are being treated ethically.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY D. CHEVALIER

Doering, Branden. PRAIRIE BLAZING STAR .
This poster covers some basic uses/importances of prairie blazing star, management strategies, and a brief taxonomic description.
Faculty Sponsor: BARTA

Flowers, Tyler. Weber, Samuel. QUAIL FOREVER: STATE AGENCY .
Quail Forever is a division of Pheasants Forever and was founded in the year 2005. Quail Forever is dedicated to the conservation of quail, pheasants and other wildlife through habitat improvements, pure awareness, education, and land management policies and programs. Quail Forever is a state agency that relies on the efforts of its many volunteers, wildlife biologist, outdoor enthusiast, and program managers. Through there many projects and events they are able to both teach the public and restore the natural habitat of many bird species throughout the United States. This agency also works with many other agencies in order to have as much impact as possible. Some of these agencies include Duck Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation and Pheasants Forever. It is Quail Forever’s vision that current and future generations of hunters and conservationist are able to enjoy abundant populations of wild quail, pheasants and other wildlife.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY CHEVALIER

Flowers, Tyler. NICOTIANA TABACUM.
Nicotiana tabacum is an annually grown herbaceous tobacco plant. This tobacco plant is only found in cultivation, which is the process of raising and caring for the plant. This plant belongs to the Kingdom : Plantea; the Clades: Angiosperms,Eudicots, and Asterids; the Order: Solanales; the Family: solanaceae; and the Gene: Nicotiana. Nicotiana tabacum is the most commonly grown out of all of the Nicotiana. The plant grows to hieghts between 1 - 2 meters. This plant is commercially grown for its leaves, as they are used to produce tobacco. There is ongoing research studying the ancestry among wild Nicotiana. Biologiest believe that the Nicotiana tabacum is a hybrid of Nicotiana sylvestris, Nicotiana tomentosiformis, and possibly Nicotiana otophora.
Faculty Sponsor: CR. C BARTA

Hunter, Sondi and Malone, Steph. BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
A brief overview of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and what it does as well as what professionals and activities it employs and is involved in.
Faculty Sponsor: CARY CHEVALIER

Gruetze, Marissa Swofford, James. MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES.
For this poster we researched the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and what activities they take part in, they're organizational structure, and the other agencies they work with.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CHEVALIER

Herron, Jackie. DRAGON'S BLOOD TREE.
This poster talks about the morphology, ecology, evolution, distribution, and importance of the Dragon's Blood Tree. There is also some information about the threats towards the tree.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CSENGELE BARTA

Kusilek, Jason Reynolds, Jeremy. AN OVERVIEW OF THE DRILLING POLICY IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE .
The goal of our poster was to research the history and current status of the oil drilling policy on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The interest in this topic grew from the recent political shift in the United States that ushered in the circumstances that changed the drilling status from forbidden to allowed on the refuge. This is a fascinating subject to research and witness as the struggle for political supremacy between business interests and environmental interests unfolds.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. C.D. CHEVALIER

Marks,Zachary; Peukert, Brett. DUCKS UNLIMITED.
Ducks Unlimited (DU) is a nonprofit American \r\n\\r\\norganization. It is dedicated to the \r\nconservation of \\r\\nwetlands and other upland \r\nhabitat for waterfowl, \\r\\nother wildlife, and \r\npeople. It was founded in 1936 \\r\\nby Joseph P. \r\nKnapp, Robert Winthrop, E. H. Low, and \\r\\na small \r\ngroup of conservation philanthropists who \r\n\\r\\ndecided to focus on the declining populations of \r\n\\r\\nwaterfowl species. \\r\\nDucks Unlimited has \r\nconserved 13.6 million acres in \\r\\nNorth America. \r\nSince 2013, it has maintained over \\r\\n700,000 \r\nmembers. \\r\\n
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY CHEVELIER

Rademann, Anthony. THE AFFECTS OF DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE ON WILDLIFE AND NATIVE AMERICANS.
This poster is about the possible effects of drilling for oil on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on wildlife and Native Americans. Species of special concern include porcupine caribou, polar bears, and migratory birds. It also covers what precautions could be done to minimize the possible effects that could be caused by drilling.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CARY CHEVALIER

Schank, Zachary. THE NIGHTSHADE FAMILY: SOLANACEAE.
The Solanaceae family is a large family containing about 100 genera and 2,500 species found around the world. (Samuels, 2015). The family is referred to as the potato or the nightshade family as both are big staples in the family for agriculture and for medicines because of their compounds. Atropa belladonna (Deadly Nightshade) is one of the most well-known plants under the nightshade name which has been used throughout history for its properties. The family has also been used as part of the agricultural sector and is also being investigated for studies of genetics with plants like the tomato and eggplant.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CSENGELE BARTA

Weber, Samuel. RAFFLESIA ARNOLDII THE LARGEST FLOWER.
Rafflesiaceae, crowned “the greatest prodigy of the vegetable world”, produce the largest flowers in angiosperms. They are also holoparasites residing inside their vine hosts, and emerge only during flowering. The floral gigantism and obligate parasitism of Rafflesiaceae have rendered their structure unrecognizable to most plant biologists. The vegetative body is composed of highly reduced strands of cells embedded in the host tissue, and does not differentiate into leaves, stems, or roots. The flowers look and smell like decaying animal flesh and exhibit numerous features unknown in the vast majority of flowering plants. This unusual combination of characters, alongside their generally elevated rates of molecular evolution among commonly used phylogenetic markers and propensity for host?to? parasite horizontal gene transfer, has obscured the phylogenetic affinities of Rafflesiaceae since their discovery two centuries ago.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CSENGELE BARTA

Whitman, Isaac. BIG BLUESTEM (ANDROPOGON GERARDII).
Big bluestem, Andropogon gerardii, is a grass, often found in tall grass and mixed grass prairies across North America. It is a key part of seed mixes used in prairie restoration projects. Here, a description is given of various aspects of this grass its taxonomy, morphology, distribution and more.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. BARTA

Ziebarth, Guthre. AN OVERVIEW OF ST. JOHN’S WORT (HYPERICUM PERFORATUM).
St. John’s Wort is a widely used flowering plant across the world. It is a very important plant species across the Earth as it can be used for medicinal purposes. Within this project, there will be descriptions of this plant’s morphology, distribution, taxonomy, and more.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CSENGELE BARTA

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS

Graduate Student Research

Porter, Carolyn; Bertini, Corey; Knight, James. FORENSIC ACCOUNTING INVESTIGATION METHODOLOGY.
We evaluate a public company from a case study that has red flags indicating possible financial statement fraud. The investigation methodology provides a way to structure the evidence collection process. We establish one or more hypotheses regarding potential related party transaction violations, asset valuation misrepresentation, and/or other discrepancies. Then we collect evidence to determine if there was intentional misrepresentation of the facts. The final step is writing a fraud investigation report describing the facts without opinion. Recommendations could include repairing internal control weaknesses.
Faculty Sponsor: PERRY ADKINS

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

Empirical Projects

(Brown, Jeremy) (Hiley, Shauna). ANALYSIS ON ZINC ACCUMULATION IN BRASSICA RAPA THROUGH AA SPECTROSCOPY.
Bioaccumulation is the process by which plants are able to uptake foreign material into their cells. Some plant species have been observed accumulating high concentrations of metals in contaminated soil and water without cytotoxic side effects. This phenomenon has potential applications in bioremediation. Brassica rapa is one species that is known to accumulate zinc at relatively high concentrations. AA analysis was performed on B rapa plants exposed to varying concentrations of zinc to determine the rate that zinc was accumulated. It was determined that zinc uptake was linear but maximum uptake was erratic.
Faculty Sponsor: SHAUNA HILEY

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE MATH AND PHYSICS

Analytical Papers and Analyses

Kempf, Nicholas Slater, Kaden Urban, Dannie Mutua, Dr. Jones. A MATHEMATICAL MODEL TO EVALUATE THE EFFECTS OF VARYING ANTIBODY CONCENTRATIONS ON HIV DYNAMICS. .
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) remains a major public health challenge and one of the leading causes of death worldwide with over 36 million people living with the virus. HIV attacks the body’s CD4 T cells in the immune system, thus making the body more susceptible to disease and other HIV related infections. The major challenge about HIV is that no effective cure for the virus currently exists. This fact has prompted the emergence of studies which look at ways to control the virus. As such, it is important to study the effects that antibodies have on the spread of HIV. In this study, we develop a mathematical model that incorporates the effects of antibody concentrations on the HIV dynamics. Using our model, we quantitatively describe how varying antibody concentrations affect virus infection rates, infected cell deaths, virus clearance, CD4 T cell count, and the basic reproduction number. We found that high levels of antibody concentration result to decreased virus infectivity, increased virus clearance, and death of infected cells. Our results also show that high levels of antibody concentration result in a low basic reproduction number suggesting that HIV may be controlled if effective measures such as development of vaccines which boost antibody levels are explored.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JONES MUTUA

Kempf, Nicholas Slater, Kaden Urban, Dannie Mutua, Dr. Jones. A CO-INFECTION MATHEMATICAL MODEL TO ASSESS MALARIA-TYPHOID TREATMENT AND/OR CONTROL MEASURES.
Malaria and typhoid are among the most endemic diseases, and thus, of major public health concerns in developing countries. In particular, individuals in the tropics are at a greater risk of contracting one or both of these diseases due to poor sanitation and health care. Improper treatment and/or care are the major challenges on managing these diseases. In this study, we present a mathematical model that may help address some of the issues related to malaria and typhoid co- infections. For our co-infection model, we formulate the basic reproduction number (R0), which provides guidelines for eradication of these diseases. That is, if R0<1, both diseases will die out, and if R0>1, the diseases will persist. We present illustrative numerical results to show how disease treatment and/or control measures may affect the disease prevalence, new infections, and disease deaths.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JONES MUTUA

Trickel, Jacob Urban, Dannie Kendall-Morwick, Dr. Joseph. DENSITY BASED ANOMALY DETECTION ON MULTIPLE NATIONAL AND LOCAL CRIME INCIDENTS RATES .
The FBI provides different data statistics based on National Reports from all over the United States on FBI.gov. Some of those statistics are based on the number of crimes and crime rates reported yearly to the FBI. Using an anomaly detection algorithm, more specifically a type of Density or Proximity Based Outlier Detection, we can obtain the Local Outlier Factor (LOF) for each type of crime. These LOFs will aid in producing a model that could reveal some interesting densities and anomalies. In this study we apply these techniques to the national statistics in order to analyze whether St. Joseph's crime statistics mesh with the “natural” trends or present a unique challenge for local law enforcement requiring closer investigation.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JOSEPH KENDALL-MORWICK

Empirical Projects

Fortney, Elliot. RIDR POSTER ABSTRACT.
Ride sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft are creating \r\n\\r\\nthe future for how people commute. Lyft currently \r\nprovides \\r\\none million rides per day, while Uber has \r\nrecently reached \\r\\nits fifth billionth ride. Consequently, \r\ntraditional taxi services \\r\\nare struggling to keep up. Both \r\nUber and Lyft have their own \\r\\napplication which users \r\ncan request rides through, while the \\r\\nmajority of \r\ntraditional cab services do not. The proposal of \\r\\nRIDR is \r\nto utilize the YELP!, Lyft, and Uber API in order to \r\n\\r\\ncombine all of these services into one app. This will \r\nallow us \\r\\nto provide users with the chance to see all their \r\navailable \\r\\nride options without having to download \r\nmultiple apps or \\r\\nknowing what local taxi companies are \r\navailable. With \\r\\nenough users, this model could \r\nencourage competitive \\r\\npricing and lower surge rates.
Faculty Sponsor: CONNIE HECKER

Sumpter, Jacob; Takes, Lindsey; Teaford, Jacob; Webber, Jon. IJTISI SUBMISSIONS.
The client required a functional web application that would automate the process of the submission of user-created academic papers and case studies. The alternative system would have relied heavily upon the manual emailing of documents which could have introduced the potential for many points of user error. Beyond the initial upload, the submission would change hands many times, going to multiple reviewers and back to the user for revision before final publishing. The team has created a web application with which the user uploads their submission. It is then stored within the system and the Editor chooses a panel of reviewers for it. Selection of this panel enables a link for them to view the submission and later upload a commented copy. The Editor can then notify the author that their paper is ready to be revised. Once that had been done, the author can easily submit the final upload, which the Editor can choose to publish to the site. The web application eliminates the need for manual emailing and greatly reduces the potential for the user error associated with such quantities of files going between so many users.
Faculty Sponsor: HECKER, CONNIE

Zhang,Wei and Cristobal, Antonio. PLANNING SCHEDULES WITH A CONSTRAINT SATISFACTION PROBLEM SOLVER.
We have created a schedule planner that will be a helpful resource for students to manage their four-year courses by using Constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) solver. Constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) are mathematical questions defined as a set of objects whose state must satisfy a number of constraints or limitations. The planner will receive the data, which is based on the major given by the student and store them in a database. And then the planner will assign each of the courses as objects under the major with an integer variable with a domain, which depends on their prerequisite. The planner will modify the data by using constraint methods to limit the results. The constraint includes maximum credits per semester, prerequisite classes, class by preferred semester, and so on. Overall, the schedule planner will produce a condensed schedule that will satisfy the student preferences. This schedule planner will help you to manage your time efficiently.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JOSEPH B. KENDALL-MORWICK

Zhang,Wei and Cristobal, Antonio. PLANNING SCHEDULES WITH A CONSTRAINT SATISFACTION PROBLEM SOLVER.
We have created a schedule planner that will be a helpful resource for students to manage their four-year courses by using Constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) solver. Constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) are mathematical questions defined as a set of objects whose state must satisfy a number of constraints or limitations. The planner will receive the data, which is based on the major given by the student and store them in a database. And then the planner will assign each of the courses as objects under the major with an integer variable with a domain, which depends on their prerequisite. The planner will modify the data by using constraint methods to limit the results. The constraint includes maximum credits per semester, prerequisite classes, class by preferred semester, and so on. Overall, the schedule planner will produce a condensed schedule that will satisfy the student preferences. This schedule planner will help you to manage your time efficiently.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JOSEPH B. KENDALL-MORWICK

Graduate Student Research

Salimi, Mohammad. STUDY ON SHOULDER SURFING ATTACKS.
When users enter their passwords in a common area, they might be at risk of hackers stealing their password. Password entry can be intercepted by close by adversaries more effectively in a crowded place such as a computer lab. In this study we are going to evaluate shoulder surfing attacks on laptop and desktops machines in public areas and will be focusing on the effect of password structure such pass phrases and 6-character strong passwords.
Faculty Sponsor: JOSEPH MORWICK

Zhang,Wei and Cristobal, Antonio. PLANNING SCHEDULES WITH A CONSTRAINT SATISFACTION PROBLEM SOLVER.
We have created a schedule planner that will be a helpful resource for students to manage their four-year courses by using Constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) solver. Constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) are mathematical questions defined as a set of objects whose state must satisfy a number of constraints or limitations. The planner will receive the data, which is based on the major given by the student and store them in a database. And then the planner will assign each of the courses as objects under the major with an integer variable with a domain, which depends on their prerequisite. The planner will modify the data by using constraint methods to limit the results. The constraint includes maximum credits per semester, prerequisite classes, class by preferred semester, and so on. Overall, the schedule planner will produce a condensed schedule that will satisfy the student preferences. This schedule planner will help you to manage your time efficiently.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JOSEPH B. KENDALL-MORWICK

Empirical Projects

(Heather, Corey) (Hobbs, Courtney) (Johnson, Reginald) (King, Alex). GRIFFON INNOVATION SYSTEM.
Griffon Innovation System is a website that makes it easier for advisors and students alike to keep track of a four year plan. Throughout a students four years at Missouri Western State University, the student and advisor will both have access to a four year plan table that will auto-generate the required classes throughout the 8 semesters. Griffon Innovation System will help make advising easier for both student and advisor.
Faculty Sponsor: CONNIE HECKER

O'Meara, Brenda, Takes, Lindsey, Sullivan, Kielan Wertz, Wayne. SPECIALTY INDUSTRIES.
Specialty Industries is a local non-profit 501(c)3 corporation that employs individuals with various disabilities doing hand assembly, labeling, packaging and light industrial. The record keeping process is completely manual using pen and paper. A database and web application will be developed to allow for automation of employment data. This data will include the standard, steps and pay for each employee and will generate a bi-monthly report for payroll options.
Faculty Sponsor: CONNIE HECKER

DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE/LEGAL STUDIES/SOCIAL WORK

Analytical Papers and Analyses

Miller, Breanna. ANALYSIS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN INDIA & MYANMAR .
This paper analyzes domestic violence in India and Myanmar, looking at how both countries handle DV. DV is very prominent throughout Southeast Asia, often overlooked because of it being deemed a "private matter". Unlike India, Myanmar has no legal protections for victims of DV. Although no measures exist in Myanmar, India appears to have decent legislation Myanmar could look to for guidance in handling an important human rights issue. India's policy is also addressed, needing additional changes as well. With proper vision and consideration, DV could be better addressed and handled in both India and Myanmar.
Faculty Sponsor: DAVID TUSHAUS

Miller, Breanna. COMPENSATION FOR EXONEREES .
This paper examines the type of compensation to exonerees once released from prison. Generally, statutes tend to focus more on monetary needs rather than social and psychological needs. Statutes need to be amended to ensure that exonerees are given the best chance at reintegrating society. Access to health care, education opportunities, as well as a system to remove convictions from their record must be considered when addressing the wrongfully accused.
Faculty Sponsor: DAVID TUSHAUS

O'Connor, Madelyn. POLICE PERCEPTIONS.
Cell phones have made an immense impact on how the public views law enforcement. Social media sites share posts of photographs, videos, and comments about police. These postings can be positive, negative, or neutral towards officers. In recent years we have seen an increase in negative posts about police, which increases negative perceptions. These posts also create an emphasis on law enforcement “targeting” people of minority groups, leading to more negative opinions about police. There is a line between the duty of protection and abusing power, and social media shows if some officers cross that line or not.
Faculty Sponsor: DAVID TUSHAUS

Empirical Projects

Hill, Alana. ORDER OF PROTECTION.
An Order of Protection is a document that is issued by the court and signed by a judge to help protect an individual(s) from harassment or abuse. An Order of Protection can order the abuser to stop abusing the individual or their children, to leave and stay away from the protectee’s home, workplace and family. It also can direct the abuser to have no contact with the individual as well as order the abuser to stay away from the children at their school or daycare. They can last for up to one year and be renewed.
Faculty Sponsor: DAVID TUSHAUS

Graduate Student Research

Falterman, Kaylin. DEALING WITH DIFFICULT, DANGEROUS AND DISORDERED PERSONS.
Crisis Situations arise from any situation where there are high emotions and low rationality. This can be dangerous for criminal justice professionals if they have no experience dealing with these situations. It’s at this point where role-playing becomes a crucial part of training because it’s a tool we use to emulate real-life situations without putting anyone in real danger while they are learning. This poster presentation explains crisis situations, crisis negotiations, and crisis intervention methods, as well as the concept of role-playing, its methodology, and its use in developing certain skill sets.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. VECCHI

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS POLITITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY

Literature Reviews

Grantham, Jillian Bodhi. NONTHERAPEUTIC INFANCT MALE CIRCUMCISION IN THE UNITED STATES: CULTURAL NORM AS MEDICAL PRACTICE.
The presentation, Nontherapeutic Infant Male Circumcision in the United States: Cultural Norm as Medical Practice, addresses the prevalence of circumcising infant males in the United States as a culturally normative tradition. Examining nontherapeutic infant circumcision through a sociological lens, it describes the historical and contemporary social context of the practice, including its frequency and perceived significance for the differing populations within American society. The medical impact of the practice will also be discussed, exploring proffered indicative justifications, as well as contraindications from medical and lay perspectives.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JOACHIM KIBIRIGE

DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

Empirical Projects

Litton, Keithan. HERZOG INTERNSHIP.
Today you can look out your window and see some sort of \r\n\\r\\nrailroad. It is a big part of the United State and has been for \r\na \\r\\nvery long time. It not only moves passengers like on the \r\n\\r\\nKansas City Street Car, but also important goods that many \r\n\\r\\npeople may use in their day to day lives. For the past year I \r\n\\r\\nhave had the pleasure to work on so many rail jobs and \r\nsee \\r\\nclearly how much of society relies on the trains. Even \r\nwith the \\r\\ninconvenience of being stuck behind one at a \r\ncrossing, the \\r\\nrailroads have helped grow this country and \r\nmany others and \\r\\nhas no plans on slowing down.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. ZHU JINWEN

Internship/Practicum Experience

(DORVIL,DEON) . INTERNSHIP ALTEC INDUSTRIES.
We live in an amazing time where natural disaster impacts life, technology needs maintenance, and It is also something that is constantly evolving and improving. With these constant changes also comes a need for someone to support and sustain this technology. That is where a company such as Altec comes in.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JINWEN ZHU

AlQahtani, Ibrahim. STUDENT ENGINEER INTERNSHIP AT INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA CENTER .
For my internship, I worked as a student engineer at Missouri Western's Instruction Media Center. I worked in this position for three months. This internship provided on excellent environment to practice the engineering skills I learned fro Missouri Western State university.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JINWEN ZHU

Love, Holden. CREATIVE MACHINING SOLUTIONS INTERNSHIP.
In life there are few things that are certain. This includes life, taxes, and that technology will always constantly evolve to fit the needs of the modern world. Manufactures constantly task engineers with the job of developing these advancements. But as businesses move forward and equipment is either damaged or improved someone has to make the repairs and or make replaced or improved parts. That is where Creative Machining Solutions comes in.
Faculty Sponsor: JINWEN ZHU

Milligan, Tristen. ALTEC INTERNSHIP.
Natural disaster is a common problem that today’s society must deal with, sometimes society plans ahead and at other times natural disasters can occur without warning. It is the job of power companies and first responders to work in these conditions in order to get society back to normal. When these times arise people are always in the need of equipment; to clean up the disasters aftermath and get society back on its feet. Altec’s main goal, is to provide safe and effective equipment in order to aid others in cleaning up and repairing the electrical infrastructure. Altec, provides trucks that speed up the process of installing power poles and maintaining power lines to help get society back on their feet. Altec’s main priority is to make sure customers have what they need to do the job successfully and safely. Altec is a great company to work for and be a part of the tight knit community they have around their company.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. ZHU JINWEN

Thomas, Ken. HUMAN MACHINE INTERFACE (HMI) OPTIMIZATION .
Human Machine Interfaces (HMI’s) play an important role in many modern processes. They allow full control and monitoring of complex systems and machines from the convenience of a graphics screen. Top HMI software programs allow end users to create and customize their own graphics screens to suit their business needs. My study focuses on the theory behind HMI screen development and optimization. I cover topics of creating streamline menu selections, using color strategically, and using less animation to avoid the common mistakes made by developers that lead to inefficiencies.
Faculty Sponsor: JINWEN ZHU

Turner, Kenley Luke;. SEALED AIR INTERNSHIP.
We live during a time where innovation shapes the world. With that innovation comes a demand for packaging solutions that increase operational efficiency, extend shelf life, and reduce resource use. Meeting these growing resource challenges demands more than just sustainable solutions. That is where a company such as Sealed Air comes in. Sealed Air’s Food Care works with food packaging companies to create packaging solutions that increase operational efficiency, extend shelf life, and reduce resource use throughout the supply chain.
Faculty Sponsor: JINWEN ZHU

VanCleave, Court. MY INTERNSHIP WITH CRB.
In today’s world, medicine is evolving and saving lives. Over the past few decades, the pharmaceutical industry has made many breakthroughs, and will only continue to improve the quality of lives. As more companies grow and expand their boundaries, they are in need of people who can design state of the art facilities and people who can build it. This is where CRB comes in.
Faculty Sponsor: JINWEN ZHU

Empirical Projects

(DORVIL,DEON) (Mohammed Almutairi). SOLAR RECHARGEABLE FAN SYSTEM.
The world today uses more energy than ever before. As a global society we must find more renewable and efficient sources to obtain our energy. One of these sources might come in the form of something that we interact with everyday, the sun. Photo-voltaic solar cells are a growing market in the renewable energy sector. Thus efficient enough to produce energy and not cause harm to the atmosphere. With thee Solar Rechargeable Fan System cooling at a low cost would be a breeze
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JINWEN ZHU

Turner, Kenley Luke; AlQahtani, Ibrahim. AUTOMATED PLANT WATERING SYSTEM.
The purpose of an Automated Plant Watering System is to assist a busy person in the upkeep of potted plants, a personal garden, greenhouse, indoor nursery, or larger scale operation such as an orchard when the system is used in the proper fashion. The system monitors the amount of moisture in the soil of a designated plant and adds water as needed to obtain an optimal saturation of the plant’s soil. Optimization of the plant’s soil saturation will create a low maintenance schedule for the upkeep of plants and eliminate over watering of plants causing them to die from oversaturation.
Faculty Sponsor: JINWEN ZHU

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH MODERN LANGUAGES

Analytical Papers and Analyses

Daugherty, Heather. "TO SHIP:" SLANG LANGUAGE IN A SPECIFIC LINGUISTIC COMMUNITY.
"To ship" is a verb which is used in Standard English to mean to transport objects or people from one location to the next. Within The "Shipping" Community, which is a specific linguistic community,"to ship" is a transitive verb which, according to one source, means, "to approve of a romantic relationship..." (EBLE American Speech) The etymology of the word was delineated and a survey was disseminated to gather current examples of the use of this verb.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. ELIZABETH CANON

Empirical Projects

Tate, Broderick. YOUTUBE AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA PLATFORM.
This paper aims to analyze whether instructional videos recommended through YouTube's automated suggestions (that is, videos chosen by YouTube's algorithm) meet best practices. The instructional videos are rated against a rubric that was made with best practices in mind.
Faculty Sponsor: KAYE ADKINS

Historical Papers

Chambers, Jordan Holaday, Daniel . HAWAIIAN SOVERIGNTY .
The Native Hawaiian culture has been, and will remain, \r\npatriotic to its roots. To establish this, comparisons will be \r\ndrawn between the today\'s Sovereignty movement and the \r\npatriotic poem \"Hawai`i Pono`i.\" Despite being almost a \r\ncentury and a half since its composition, the National Pride \r\nwithin the \"Hawai`i Pono`i\" is still ingrained and burning strong \r\nin the Hawaiian people; especially so within active participants \r\nof the Sovereignty movement.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. STACIA BENSYL

Literature Reviews

(Craig, Austin-Lewis) (Rice, Tiffany). THE OVERTHROW OF THE HAWAIIAN MONARCHY .
Using lyrics from the following songs: “Aloha Oi” by Queen Liliuokalani, “Hawai’i Pono’i” by King Kalakaua, and “Kaulana Na Pua” by Ellen Keho’ohiwaokalani Wright Prendergast, this presentation will explore the nature of and history behind Hawaiian music as they reflect the history of Hawaii. The purpose of this is to derive suggestions of Hawaii’s history, which includes the overthrow, from the context of the lyrics. The point of this is to link the song’s messages to Queen Liliuokalani’s Abdication Statement, which ultimately is a monument to Hawaii and Hawaiian literature.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. STACIA BENSYL

Miller, Melissa and Howe, Brooke . HANSEN'S DISEASE (LEPROSY) .
This presentation explores the topic of Hansen's disease, also known as Leprosy. This disease affected the Native people of Hawaii both physically and mentally. People were mistreated because of the disease. We will incorporate excerpts from "Koolau the Leper" by Jack London, describing the difficulties and outcomes people with Leprosy faced. Especially those who were sent to the island of Molokai, the home/prison of people with the disease. Hansen's disease patients were isolated, and neglected, until Father Damien came to their rescue and helped them create a more stable environment.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. STACIA BENSYL

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PE AND RECREATION

Empirical Projects

McFarland, Jake; Sadler, Chris. AN EXAMINATION OF NUTRITIONAL HABITS BETWEEN COLLEGE STUDENTS AND OLDER ADULTS.
Poor nutritional habits continue to persist in the United States, and the nation’s health is worsening, in part due to these habits. The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in nutritional habits between college students (18-24), and older adults (25-55). A convenience sample of 40 participants (20 college students, 20 older adults) were solicited for their participation and completed a survey packet asking about their nutritional habits. Although differences in the nutritional habits across age groups was not significant, a significant difference was found in participants’ perceptions of their overall nutritional status compared to their peers.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. WILLIAM RUSSELL

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY PHILOSOPHY AND GEOGRAPHY

Analytical Papers and Analyses

Darling, Nicholas. A STUDY OF THE SPRUCE TREE POPULATION ON MWSU'S CAMPUS.
If you look around Missouri Western's campus, you might notice some spruce trees are diseased. The spruce trees can become more susceptible to disease if they are stressed, which can be brought on through things such as drought, insect attacks, and competition for resources. This project is an analysis of the location of the spruce trees on campus using GPS and GIS technologies to see if a correlation can be found between density of spruce trees and spruce trees being infected by diseases.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. DRAKE

Lavelle, Katie. STORMWATER BASINS OF ST. JOSEPH, MO.
The purpose of this project was to find the locations of the stormwater basins in St. Joseph, MO, record their conditions, and map them out using GIS. A Trimble GPS unit and TerraSync software were used to locate the Schuetz Container Systems, Inc. stormwater basin, its inflow pipes, and outfall structure. Basin type, vegetation conditions, erosion control conditions, pipe diameter, and the date constructed were also recorded.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. DRAKE

Graduate Student Research

Falterman, Kaylin. WHERE HATRED CAUSED THE BLUE FLU.
Recently, there have been increasing reports of police being assaulted in an ambush-type setup. These assaults are either from a position of cover or a surprise attack. These attacks not only jeopardize the officers’ safety but the public safety as well, whether it’s accidentally injuring a person within proximity to the officer, or the officer being unable to protect the public. I am taking these reports and mapping them to look for any hot spots for police ambushes.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. DRAKE

DEPARTMENT OF NURSING

Analytical Papers and Analyses

Davis, Alexie; Harmon, Sebastian; James, Samantha; Nutt, Alison. BREASTFEEDING EDUCATION OF NURSING STUDENTS FOLLOWING INSTRUCTION BY CERTIFIED LACTATION CONSULTANT.
Breastfeeding is known to have many benefits for both the mother and infant. However, currently 80% of women are initiating breastfeeding but less than 25% meet the recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months. A key indicator in breastfeeding success is having adequate support and education. Nurses are able to support and educate breastfeeding mothers. However, many nursing students state they got little to no lactation education in their schooling. This study was a non-randomized intervention study. A convenience sample was used of 4th semester nursing students attending MWSU. Two cohorts were given a questionnaire related to breastfeeding attitudes and knowledge. Only one of the groups received breastfeeding education from a board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). Results showed the students taught by the IBCLC felt they had received a more sufficient breastfeeding education compared to the other cohort. These students also scored statistically higher on some items of the questionnaire.
Faculty Sponsor: KARMAN ROMERO

(Lee, Brooke), (Miller, Taryn), (Riddle, Abigail), (Robinson, Tauree), (Thurnau, Hannah). PARKINSON'S DISEASE: A NURSING KNOWLEDGE ANALYSIS.
Parkinson’s Disease is a disease that is commonly associated with rigid and slow movements, memory loss, and older age. This disease encompasses more symptoms beyond what many healthcare providers are aware. The research conducted in this study displays the cause and risk factors for this disease, how the disease is diagnosed, and treatment options. Research has been conducted on motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease, by utilizing patients with such a diagnosis to determine the prevalence and relevance of said symptoms. By recognizing non-motor symptoms, healthcare professionals should gain the ability to better care for patients who have developed Parkinson’s Disease. Though there is no cure for this disease, there are ways to manage these symptoms so we also analyzed the research done on pharmacologic and non- pharmacologic treatment of Parkinson’s. Research for these topics included evidence from the year 2013 or later to provide the most recent study results. An analysis was conducted to assess knowledge base of RN's and LPN's in the acute care setting in regards to the diagnosis, symptoms and treatment of Parkinson’s Disease and how often each participant encounters patients with this disease.
Faculty Sponsor: STEPHANIE STEWART

Empirical Projects

Bailey, Hunter Webb, Courtney Youngs, Azaria . THE EFFECT OF SCREEN TIME ON ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION .
Abstract Purpose: To determine if there is an association between specific types of screen time use (television, social media, computer usage, smartphone usage, video games) and levels of depression and anxiety among individuals between the ages of 18 and 24. Design and Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive correlational design was used to analyze data collected from 76 students enrolled in undergraduate programs. Students provided information regarding their anxiety and depression as well as their screen time use via survey questionnaire which included demographic information, specific screen time exposure, and depression and anxiety in terms of personal feelings. The PROMIS short form V1.0-Depression 6a and PROMIS short form V1.0- Anxiety 6a tool was used to measure depression and anxiety. Results: The correlation between screen time use, specifically computer use with depression (r=0.256; p<0.05) and anxiety (r=0.269; p<0.05) was weak but positive. Conclusions: The individuals who spent increased hours in computer use had increased depression and anxiety level. Keywords: anxiety; depression; screen time; students; survey; descriptive correlation
Faculty Sponsor: LATHA, VARGHESE

Bennett, Breann Nicole; Bryant, Taylor Austin, Eckert, Brianna Nicole & Officer, Mitchell Lee. COPING STRATEGIES AND USING ALCOHOL ON ELDER ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, AND SUICIDAL IDEATION..
The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of coping strategies and using alcohol on older adults’ anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. This was a cross sectional, descriptive design. There were 50 older people recruited from community. The mean age was 69.28. The Multiple Regression R square was 21.1% for Anxiety, 27.6% for Depression, and 11.2% for Suicidal Ideation. Using Alcohol with negative emotion was the significant predictor of older people’s Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation. Higher scores of Using Alcohol with negative emotion were found to predict increasing older people’s Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation.
Faculty Sponsor: YEH, PI-MING

Bennett, Breann Nicole; Bryant, Taylor Austin; Merrit, Taryn; Eckert, Brianna Nicole and Officer, Mitchell Lee . THE INFLUENCE OF COPING STRATEGIES AND USING ALCOHOL ON ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION OF OLDER ADULTS .
The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of coping strategies and using alcohol on older adults’ anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. This was a cross sectional, descriptive design. There were 50 older people recruited from community. The mean age was 69.28. The Multiple Regression R2 was 21.1% for Anxiety, 27.6% for Depression, and 11.2% for Suicidal Ideation. Using Alcohol with negative emotion was the significant predictor of older people’s Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation. Higher scores of Using Alcohol with negative emotion were found to predict increasing older people’s Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation.
Faculty Sponsor: YEH, PI-MING

Bird, Kendra Alaine; Crouse, Jessica Lena; Johnson, Kate Ann Lee; Olerich, Steffi Ruth & Redmond, Shannon Christine. FAMILY INTERACTION AND SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING ON ELDER ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, AND SUICIDAL IDEATION. .
The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of family interaction and spiritual well-being on the older people’s anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. This was a cross sectional, descriptive research design.There were 50 older people recruited from community. The mean age was 69.28. The Stepwise Multiple Regression variables accounted for 44.1%, 37.3 %, and 29.6 % variance for Anxiety,Depression, and Suicidal Ideation respectfully. Life Satisfaction/self-actualization and Negative Family Interaction were the significant predictors of anxiety. Spiritual Well-being and Faith/Belief were found to predict decreasing depression. Spiritual Well-being and parent’s Involvement were significant predictors of Suicidal Ideation.
Faculty Sponsor: YEH, PI-MING

Bird, Kendra Alaine; Crouse, Jessica Lena; Johnson, Kate Ann Lee; Olerich, Steffi Ruth & Redmond, Shannon Christine. FAMILY INTERACTION AND SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING ON ELDER ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, AND SUICIDAL IDEATION. .
The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of family interaction and spiritual well-being on the older people’s anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. This was a cross sectional, descriptive research design.There were 50 older people recruited from community. The mean age was 69.28. The Stepwise Multiple Regression variables accounted for 44.1%, 37.3 %, and 29.6 % variance for Anxiety,Depression, and Suicidal Ideation respectfully. Life Satisfaction/self-actualization and Negative Family Interaction were the significant predictors of anxiety. Spiritual Well-being and Faith/Belief were found to predict decreasing depression. Spiritual Well-being and parent’s Involvement were significant predictors of Suicidal Ideation.
Faculty Sponsor: YEH, PI-MING

Davis, Alexie Harmon, Sebastian James, Samantha Nutt, Alison. BREASTFEEDING KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES OF NURSING STUDENTS .
In many nursing schools, our research has shown that breastfeeding education is very limited. Nurses are the main education tool when it comes to new mothers looking to breastfeed. This study was designed to test the education and confidence in nursing students about breastfeeding following instruction from a certified lactation consultant versus a professor who did not. We gave the Australian Breastfeeding Knowledge and Attitude Questionnaire to two different cohorts, one taught be a certified consultant and the other a professor without certification. Through this research we hope to help enhance the education and confidence of breastfeeding in new graduates.
Faculty Sponsor: KARMAN ROMERO BSN, RN, IBCLC

Horn, Charlsi; Kozisek, Kinsey; Sarria, Paola; Schreck, Bree. MARIJUANA EFFICACY FOR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS.
Thirty-four states in the U.S. allow the use of \r\nmedical marijuana. The challenge arises in \r\nquestioning the efficacy of its use. Studies show \r\nmedical marijuana can relieve intense pain, reduce \r\nmuscular spasms, and aid in recovery from \r\nsubstance abuse, among other disorders. There are \r\nalso shown risks associated with medical marijuana \r\nsuch as somnolence, nausea, and impaired attention \r\nand decision making. Caregivers should be informed \r\non the risks and benefits so they are able to \r\nindividualize care and improve quality of life.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CRISTI CAMPBELL, DNP, FNP-BC

Literature Reviews

Kelli Andersen, Brittany Fox, Breanna Hancock, Tyra Penton, Ann Violett. THE EFFECT OF NONPHARMACOLOGICAL PAIN MANAGEMENT RELATED TO RECOVERY TIME IN POST-OPERATIVE PATIENTS.
This integrative literature review focuses on non- pharmacological pain management and its effectiveness in controlling pain in the postoperative patient. The review of literature consisted of analyzing different types of non- pharmacological pain management and the overall effectiveness in reducing pain after surgery. The purpose of this integrative literature review is to assess whether non- pharmacological methods are more effective in conjunction with pharmacological measures related to the overall recovery time in postoperative patients. The integrative review has shown that non-pharmacological methods are effective in reducing pain. However, the literature also indicates that pain management is more effective when pharmacological and non pharmacological methods are combined.
Faculty Sponsor: ALLISON ANDERSON

Drimmel, Lacee; Hawkins, Katie; Sinclair, Estacia; Tota, Jamie; Wiederholt, Matt. THE KETOGENIC DIET.
Information has been formulated to provide an understanding of what is required to maintain a ketogenic diet. The review discusses the process of reaching a state of ketosis, why the ketogenic diet is effective, as well as what harms may be caused over time. Information is provided on who the diet is beneficial for and why it may be important in some medical conditions. This paper discusses what the diet is, and the foods that can be consumed and avoided to successfully maintain ketosis. Information over the difference between ketosis and acidosis is also included.
Faculty Sponsor: H. MACHELLE SKINNER, DNP, AGPCNP-BC

(Lemar, Frankie) (Russell, Hillary) (Smith, Rian) (Stillwell, Kiley)(Webb, Darby). THE EFFECTS OF EXERCISE ON NON-METASTATIC BREAST CANCER.
Evidence repeatedly supports that that exercise is beneficial to the human body. This systematic review analyzes how exercise correlates with positive outcomes for female breast cancer patients with non- metastatic disease. Six articles were reviewed and collectively demonstrated that breast cancer patients who implemented an exercise program had less fatigue, pain, and incidence of cancer recurrence than breast cancer patients who did not participate in an exercise regimen. The theoretical approach of the Health Belief Model was utilized in this review. With this knowledge, professionals can promote exercise to create positive outcomes in females with non-metastatic breast cancer.
Faculty Sponsor: DANA MCDANIEL

Horn, Charlsi; Kozisek, Kinsey; Sarria, Paola; Schreck, Bree. MARIJUANA EFFICACY FOR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS.
Thirty-four states in the U.S. allow the use of medical marijuana. The challenge arises in questioning the efficacy of its use. Studies show medical marijuana can relieve intense pain, reduce muscular spasms, and aid in recovery from substance abuse, among other disorders. There are also shown risks associated with medical marijuana such as somnolence, nausea, and impaired attention and decision making. Caregivers should be informed on the risks and benefits so they are able to individualize care and improve quality of life.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. CRISTI CAMPBELL, DNP, FNP-BC

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

Empirical Projects

(Aldridge, Melany)(Cagg, Nathan)(Pike, Kristyn)(Riley, Octavia)(Talbot, Michelle)(Williams, Annie). TO SCROLL OR TO WRITE? SOCIAL EFFECTS ON MOOD, MEMORY, AND SPATIAL REASONING.
Social media could negatively affect mood, memory, and spatial reasoning, while writing a letter could have potential benefits. We hypothesized that letter writing would increase mood, memory, and spatial reasoning; while passive social media use would decrease these things. Forty-eight college students completed a mood scale both before and after passively scrolling through social media or writing a letter. They then completed a memory test and a spatial reasoning test. The post-test mood rating was significantly higher for participants in the letter writing condition compared to social media. Memory and spatial reasoning scores did not differ significantly.
Faculty Sponsor: ZIEMER

Besmer, Megan, Martin, Marianne, Osborn, Tiffany, Roenfeldt, Katrina, Smith, Madeline, Yang, Sonia. THE EFFECT OF SMELL ON MEMORY FOR WORDS THAT ARE RELATED TO SPECIFIC ODORS .
The present study investigated the effect of odor on memory for different categories of words. We hypothesize that the smell of the room will influence the content remembered. Participants were tested in one of two conditions: a room that smelled like popcorn or a room that smelled like coffee. Participants were asked to remember as many words as they could when presented a list of words that referred to three categories: popcorn words, coffee words, and fruit words. We also looked for possible false memory. In our findings, we will discuss the relation of odor and remembered words.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. COREY WHITE

Cabral, Mary; Clark, Josh; Cordova, Kimber; Dunaway, Rebecca; Perez Lara, Roxana; Robinson, Taylor. LET’S GET PHYSICAL: THE TIMING AND INTENSITY OF EXERCISE AND HOW IT RELATES TO ENCODING.
Although it is well established that a connection exists between \r\nmental and physical health, more recent research has examined how \r\nshort \\r\\nbouts of exercise may alter such mental functions. More \r\nspecifically, we examined how short bouts of exercise might help, or \r\nhurt, the \\r\\nencoding of information in memory. To do this we \r\nexamined two aspects of these short bouts, the intensity of the \r\nexercise and the timing \\r\\nof it relative to when the to be learned \r\ninformation is presented. Unlike previous research in the current \r\nresearch, we wanted to look at \\r\\nwhether variations in the intensity \r\nof more realistic exercise (i.e., walking) may differ from typical \r\nexercises used by other researchers (i.e., \\r\\ncycling). Overall, we \r\nfound little to no effect of either variable on the encoding of \r\ninformation. However this might have been due to \\r\\nlimitations in \r\nthe design, including a small sample size. As such, research should \r\ncontinue to examine what role short bouts of exercise \\r\\nmight have \r\nin memory, as well as other mental functions. In doing so, researchers \r\nshould continue to understand what factors in short \\r\\nbouts might \r\nplay important roles in said functions.
Faculty Sponsor: BENJAMIN ENGLAND

Herrman, Mackenzie and Perez Lara, Roxana. EMPATHY AND THE NEED TO BELONG IN THE INTERPERSONAL THEORY OF SUICIDE.
The interpersonal theory of suicide has been offered as a simple and comprehensive means of explaining suicide (Joiner, 2005). Specifically, the theory states that the desire to die by suicide is formed when a person experiences a combination of believing that they do not belong with others (i.e., thwarted belongingness) and that they are a burden on others (i.e., perceived burdensomeness). Questions remain as to what factors may interact with thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. The purpose of this study is to determine whether suicide ideation is differentially associated with thwarted belongingness and “need to belong,” and perceived burdensomeness and empathy.
Faculty Sponsor: DR. JON MANDRACCHIA

Lindsey, Mickey . AGAINST ALL ODDS: THE ROLLE OF RESILIENCE IN STAYING MOTIVATED .
Ostracism has been shown to have a negative impact on one's psychological well-being (Wesselmann, Butler, Williams, & Pickett, 2010) however it has been highlighted that ostracism may be a motivating factor in certain situations. To support this idea, it was found that when people who are ostracized are given the opportunity to compare their performance on a task to that of the person who ostracized them, this promotes increased intrinsic motivation of the \"ostracize\" to outperform the \"ostracizer\"(Jamieson, Harkins, & Williams, 2010). The purpose of this study is to examine the potential moderating effect of resilience in the relationships between ostracism and motivation to succeed as well as discouragement and motivation to succeed.
Faculty Sponsor: JON MANDRACCHIA

Wyss, Sara. CHILDREN’S EXPERIENCE AND EXPLORATION OF TOUCH-SCREENS.
This research explores how children interact with touch- screens through two methods. First, by collecting online survey data from parents about their children’s screen use. Secondly, we examine infants’ (7-10 months) and toddlers’ (15-18 months) manual behaviors (rubs, pats, scratches, grasps, and screen behaviors) directed towards screen images as compared to the behaviors they direct towards photographs and 3D objects in order to see if children are demonstrating an understanding of the different properties screens provide. Survey data collection is ongoing, but the experimental data suggests that by 15-18 months, toddlers may be starting to understand the interactive nature of touch-screens.
Faculty Sponsor: CHRISTINE ZIEMER

99 submissions listed.
BIOLOGY42
BUSINESS1
CHEMISTRY1
COMPUTER SCIENCE MATH AND PHYSICS11
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/LEGAL STUDIES/SOCIAL WORK5
ECONOMICS POLITITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY1
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY10
ENGLISH MODERN LANGUAGES5
HEALTH PE AND RECREATION1
HISTORY PHILOSOPHY AND GEOGRAPHY3
NURSING13
PSYCHOLOGY6
ANALYTICAL PAPER/ANALYSIS11
EMPIRICAL39
GRADUATE5
HISTORICAL PAPER1
INTERNSHIP11
LITERATURE REVIEW28
PROTOTYPE4