Road sediments have the potential to accumulate heavy metals and other toxic pollutants that come from vehicular emissions, tire and brake wear, pavement degradation, and other man-made sources. Ten (n=10) Road sediment samples were collected from areas near an industrial power plant site, AES Power Plant, Guayama, Puerto Rico in order to evaluate potential contaminant […]
B61: Local Scale Use of Remote Sensing to Visually Predict Spatial Distribution of Oyster Mushrooms in Oxford, Ohio
My general research area is conservation ecology and mycology (study of mushrooms). My goal was to see if my predictors could be used in Oxford to estimate where we may have found oyster mushrooms in October of 2023 (genus Pleurotus) by comparing that to recorded observations from citizen science data. I used satellite imagery from […]
B62: Unpacking Inequity: Choice and Judgement in Food Pantries
Global health is dedicated to understanding the health status of different populations and creating strategies to improve health equity worldwide. This project allowed me to examine the United States’ social services more deeply and understand the varying complexities of food insecurity. This experience consisted of volunteering in local food pantries and interacting with those who […]
B63: Who’s that Gene: Discerning the Identity of Cola-Mutant in Tribolium castaneum
Beetles comprise 400,000 described species and 40% of all insects as well as displaying high levels of noteworthy diversity. Their elytra, a sclerotized non-flight forewing, is a uniquely defining feature that has allowed them to become widely prevalent and ubiquitous worldwide. In an effort to explore this novel trait, we performed a complementation test on […]
B64: Comprehensive Examination of Elytron Mutants in the Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium castaneum
As members of the order Coleoptera, a highly diverse group of insects, the red flour beetle has specially modified wings called elytra for protection. While the wing gene network in other model organisms, such as D. melanogaster, is well studied, the genes that make up the wing gene network and relationships between these genes remain […]
B65: Virtual Reality (VR) Therapy for Motor Skills in Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder, presents significant challenges to motor skills due to the loss of dopamine-producing neurons. Individuals experience tremors, slowness of movement, stiffness, and coordination issues, impacting daily activities. Recognizing the limitations of traditional therapies, there is a growing interest in exploring Virtual Reality (VR) therapy as an innovative intervention. VR offers an […]
B66: Reproducing Age Dependent Radial Artery Pulses Using A Solenoid System
Radial pulses are used in a variety of healthcare applications, including being used to calibrate wearable healthcare devices such as smart watches. As such, a system to replicate human pulses quickly and cost effectively is needed to calibrate these devices. This research project focuses on designing a solenoid system that can replicate a variety of […]
B67: Plantar flexor myofiber cross-sectional area across a range of physical inactivity in early postnatal mice
Physical activity is known to have a positive impact on health while physical inactivity is known to do the opposite. Much less understood is how levels of early life periods of either activity or inactivity, followed by opposite treatment can affect myofibers. 102 mice were separated into 2 cohorts, those completing only 14 days of […]
B68: Design and Testing of Artificial Skin to Simulate Human Skin Properties
Wearable devices offer promising avenues for health monitoring by potentially integrating heart rate patterns for diagnostic purposes. Watch-like devices are poised to achieve this by monitoring the pulse of the radial artery. Traditionally, this site has been assessed in Oriental medicine, where different pulse fluctuations signify various health conditions. The properties of the skin play […]
B69: Effect of Contact Pressure and Velocity on Friction of Automatic Transmission Fluids
This research is for the Miami University Materials Tribology Laboratory that studies friction, wear, and lubrication between surfaces in contact. This project focuses on running baseline testing of automotive transmission fluids between clutch plates using a tribometer (an instrument that measures friction). The tests were designed to evaluate the effect of applied pressure and velocity […]