Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

S.P.A.R.C.S.- Solar Panel Acoustic Resonance Cleaning System, Jeff Kruth, Mike Combs

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

As the world races towards the future of clean energy, solar panels are becoming common place. One of the largest problems faced is accumulated dirt and dust on the surface of these solar panels. Panels become covered in dirt and debris and no longer provide efficient output of solar energy. This problem is faced on earth and beyond the stars. For years, NASA has been trying to solve the issue of “dust” from mars or the moon settling on solar panels, lenses, and other surfaces. The regolith threatens the potential of human existence on the surface of the moon. The …

Private Pete Fights Illiteracy At Fort Ontario: The Men It Changed, Jeff Wysong, Adrian Mandzy

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

From June of 1943 to February of 1944, the 1210th Special Training Unit at Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York taught pre-basic military training to thousands of illiterate, slow learning, and non-English-speaking soldiers in the United States Army. The training center at Fort Ontario conducted programs in disciplinary barracks, specialized military, technical, academic and vocational education.

A Linkedin Analysis: Job Placement In Sport Management Program Of An Eastern Kentucky Public University, Jose Garcia, Will Wellman, Christy Trent, Steve Chen

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

Sport-related jobs are more likely to be obtained by students with a sport participation experience or a sport management degree. This study attempted to examine the following questions: (a) How well do sport management students obtain a job after graduation? (b) Does a sport management degree help students obtain a sport-related job?

Preliminary Tropical Fungal Palynology Of Early-Middle Miocene Sediments From Northwestern Peru, Jeremyah Cabrera, Christopher Marsh, Liberty Smallwood, Ollie Vanderepst, Ingrid Romero, Noelia Nuñez Otaño, Diana Ochoa, Jen O’Keefe

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

Fungal communities are a vital part of terrestrial ecosystem functions and understanding how they respond to climate change is necessary for predicting future assemblage dynamics. Sediments deposited during the Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO), 18-13 million years ago, provide an opportunity to examine fungal responses to a warming event with CO2 values similar to those today. Few fungal datasets exist for tropical regions during the MCO, and only one uses modern methods to identify fossil fungi and complete paleoecological inferences and paleoclimatological reconstructions using the nearest living relative method.

Building For The Exchange, Maddie Dodrill, Brittany Graziani, Alexa Deaton, Abigail Cooper, Gabe Barcus, Janet Ratliff

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

Our project, “Building for the Exchange,” is trying to solve a problem that has been progressing for nearly a century. Modern development practices have changed the small business landscape in Morehead. It was once a vibrant downtown core with neighborhoods built around it. A surge in population over the last 70 years has caused businesses to spread across the community. The downtown has been left with empty storefronts, struggling to keep viable businesses. To try to solve this problem, our class was split into four groups and we were tasked to create business plans to fill vacant spaces in the …

Repressor Of The Sos Response Mechanism In Acinetobacter Baumannii Requires Helix-Formation And Dimerization For Its Dna-Binding Ability, Belinda Candra, Deborah Cook, Jenelle Hare

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

After DNA damage, the multi-drug resistant pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii activates its SOS response, possibly allowing mutagenesis to occur by inducing multiple errorprone polymerases. A. baumannii uses the non-canonical repressor protein UmuDAb to repress operons of these polymerases. It has an N-terminal domain (NTD) with 2 helices (HTH1 & HTH2) whose sequences are needed for repression1. Like other bacterial SOS repressors such as LexA, UmuDAb dimerizes. BACTH analyses2 showed that UmuDAb forms dimers via its LexA-like G124 residue and UmuD-like N100 residue (UmuD is a component of an error-prone polymerase). However, N100 is not needed if the C termini are free. …

A Brief History Of Environmental Policy Through Literature, Nathan Walden, Brady Lawson, Adam Abdel-Rahman, Mathew Delancey, Douglas Mock

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

Environmental policy is a relative newcomer on the scene of federal regulation, with cries for a unified federal environmental response ignited by the publication of Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson in 1962 which exposed the new field of environmental science and its effects to the American public. However, the tradition of literature driving public awareness and federal policymaking does not stop at its genesis with many seminal works such as Collapse, by Jared Diamond, The Diversity of Life, by Edward O. Wilson, and Love Canal, by Richard Newman, continuing to do the same. These books have continued to …

Identification Of Unknown Mold Sample From Lappin Hall, Devan Herald, Geoff Gearner

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

The purpose of this undergraduate research project is to identify an unknown species of mold that was found growing in the B-wing of Lappin Hall, on Morehead State University Campus, after the summer holiday of 2022. A sample of the unknown mold was collected and isolated for identification.

Religious Beliefs & Marital Satisfaction: Examining The Impact Of Religious Beliefs On Marital Satisfaction, Trenton Rose, Monica Himes

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

The focus of the study is to examine the relationship between religious beliefs and marital satisfaction. The goal was to look at how religion was being incorporated into marriages and how it impacted their satisfaction with the marriage.

Fundamental Or Negligible?: Kentucky P-12 Teacher Websites, Maddie Stamper, Lesia Lennix

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

How does a P-12 classroom teacher communicate at large with their students or their parents? There are countless ways for teachers to communicate with others. We determined that the more effective route in teacher communication would be an access-key-based Google Classroom, or an open-access teacher website linked directly to their respective school's website. An available, published teacher website allows anyone with internet access to view teacher-proffered information. This information could include their name, email, phone number, short biography, picture, or Google Classroom link. We found that the most effective information to include on a teacher's website would be their name, …

The Kentucky Ant Project: An Attempt To Catalogue The Ant Species Of Kentucky, Josiah Kilburn, Sean O'Keefe

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

There are 74 ant species in Kentucky and 55 ant species in West Virginia. In most of the surrounding states, ant species counts are nearly double, or at least 49 more ant species than either of these two states. This indicates that there have been minimal sampling efforts in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Impact Of Nurse- Patient Interactions On Patient Outcome: A Quality Improvement Project, Suzie White

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

The purpose of this project is to address the benefits of care related to nurse and patient interactions. Throughout the project we have researched these benefits within different specialties of medicine. Some different specialties we studied include, communication in the ICU (intensive care unit), communication within the palliative/hospice setting, communication in the ED (emergency department), communication in the med surgical setting, patients’ perception of nurse/ patient interactions, nurse communication techniques and training, and lastly the costs of effective and ineffective communication.

Adverse Childhood Events, Safety, & Comfort: Associations With Adolescent Symptoms, C. Skaggs, M. Howard, T. Pangallo, Shari L. Kidwell

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

A PowerPoint that accompanied a oral presentation.

Leadership Initiatives International Public Health Internship Program, Brooklyn Adams, Mahathi Siripurapu, Jennifer Nguyen, Landon Pritchett, Josh Day, Jeremyah Cabrera, Rox Lockard, Rachel Rogers

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

In a nine-month internship for Leadership Initiatives, our team worked together to develop and implement an international public health campaign to address major health concerns prevalent in the region of Bauchi State, Nigeria. Our topic was the issue of selfmedication and its effects among the community. We launched a campaign to collect survey data and develop an educational workshop for the project.

The Impact Of Early Identification Of Declining Patients: A Quality Improvement Study, Courtlyn Salyers, Kyla Wilson, Cedric Meadows, Savannah Sizemore, Savannah Thompson, Gg Ferguson, Payton Mcglone, Leah Moore, Jordan Sims, Suzi White

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

This presentation focuses on the prevalence of failure to rescue in healthcare, that we have evidenced in the clinical setting. Proper identification of declining patient health plays a major role in early intervention, resulting in a positive patient outcome. Analyzing common themes in these issues provided a “bigger picture” of the need for proactive patient care.

Craft Academy Solar Electric Racing: The Building Of A Solar Car, Bray Paynter, Sophia Day, Casey Hovis, Hailey Castle, Hope Meyers, Landon Ray, Rachel Rogers, Joyce Stubbs, Steve Stubbs

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

The Solar Car Challenge is a nationwide program in which high school and college students design and build a car powered by solar panels, competing at Texas Motor Speedway or in a cross-country race. In the Spring of 2021, The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics founded a Solar Car Team called Craft Academy Solar Electric Racing (CASER).

First Examination Of Palynolgy Across The K-Pg Boundary In The Jackson Purchase Region Of Kentucky, Maeve Mccarty, Jarred Asselta, Gary Stinchcomb, William Lukens, Ingrid Romero, Matthew Pound, Jen O’Keefe

2023 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

This study examines the Independence School section of the K-Pg Boundary, which is located in a creek cutbank exposure in Carlisle County, in the Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky. This section has not otherwise been examined since 1980 and has not previously been palynologically studied in detail. Specifically, we are examining the Owl Creek and upper McNairy Formations, deposited as Maastrictian-age sediments and the Clayton Formation, deposited as Danian- age sediments, in a mosaic of onshore, nearshore, and coastal environments (Tschudy, 1970; Olive, 1980). The site was relocated by G. Stinchcomb and students from Murray State University in 2020 and …

Women In Sustainable Leadership: A Case Study On The Perspectives, Opportunities, And Challenges Of Biologist And Conservationist Estrela Matilde, Ella Lyons

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite the relatively small population of 8,000 occupants and the minimal international recognition of the Island of Príncipe, located off of the Gulf of Guinea on the Western Coast of Central Africa, the region has increasingly become a leading example of sustainable practices to be taken on a global scale in the near future to combat our current climate crisis. This case study explores the sustainable practices that Príncipe has learned to embrace under the leadership of Portuguese conservation biologist and project manager for the NGO Fundação Príncipe, Estrela Matilde. Estrela integrates social, cultural, and environmental conservation to align with …

What You Don't See: The Impact Of Hidden Game Mechanics On Players, Jan Virsunen

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Since the rise of technology in the early nineteen sixties the art of gaming became an increasingly popular form of entertainment for many people throughout the years. As time progressed so did the advancements in technology which allowed for video games to become more immersive, captivating, and complex. Due to these advancements in tech, it generated a wide variety of ways for developers to increase game complexities. However, as the complexity of video games has increased, so too has the number of hidden game mechanics. These game mechanics are seen as the underlying systems and rules that govern how the …

Moral Injury To Inform Analysis Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Amanda Julia Manea

Senior Theses

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that almost one out of ten veterans struggle with. Although the National Center for PTSD has made extensive progress in characterizing and developing new treatments for PTSD, most veterans still experience symptoms of PTSD following treatment. Novel avenues of investigation, such as developing algorithms to review electronic health record (EHR) data and better understanding moral injury, are being pursued to address the gap that still exists when it comes to treating veterans. Moral injury is the individual evaluation of exposure to a potentially morally injurious event (PMIE) and can lead to …

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 64 Number 1 Spring 2023 [Print Issue 62:2], Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

16 - A BRIDGE TO TOMORROW How one university can change the world when it widens the path to opportunity. SCU Staff

22 - THE INTERNET'S LAST TRUE BELIEVER For more than two decades, Law Professor Eric Goldman has been one of the most influential legal voices fighting for the ’net. Chris O’Brien

26 - OPPORTUNITY ON SET Meet five Broncos who scored the opportunity of a lifetime—production assistants on an indie film crew—via Professor Nico Opper. Nicole Calande

28 - SPIRITUAL SOUP With a little bit of this, a dash of that, and a sprinkling of something else, humans …

The Love Collection Of Chinese Wall Paintings, Donglin Chen

Senior Theses and Projects

The Chinese Fresco Painting (accession #1951.230) at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is a problematic work. The museum registration document showed that this wall painting is thought to have been painted during the Ming dynasty, ruling from 1368 to 1644. It may depict the Goddess of Sons and Grandsons, Zisun Niangniang. However, this is unprovenanced and unresearched. In this paper, connoisseurship analysis and scientific examination of the painting are carried out to elucidate the mystery of this Chinese mural. This study attempted to confirm the Ming Dynasty dating of this painting by demonstrating stylistic affinities between it and other …

A Comparative Plague Study Of Cacao Fungal Disease In Cacao Pods Within Monocultures And Indigenous Agroforests In Ecuador’S Napo Province, Seamus Mccarthy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study analyzes the composition of three major fungal diseases in Theobroma cacao fruits compared between monocultures and chakra agroforests in the Napo province of Ecuador with the goal of noting similarities and differences in the disease composition between the two systems, as well as investigate possible variation within this poorly understood category of agroforest to better structure future studies. Cacao pods on sampled trees were counted and fungal infections identified visually and by touch. Chakra systems were selected in the communities of Cinco de Enero and Seis de Marzo to the Southwest of Tena, Ecuador. Monoculture data was collected …

A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Of Cork Versus Traditional Shoe Insole Material, Alexandra Lum

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Shoes are conventionally produced from materials like plastic or rubber that have detrimental impacts on the environment such as exacerbating existing waste accumulation, increasing global amounts of greenhouse gasses, or releasing toxic chemicals into soils and groundwater. These impacts have pushed footwear companies to introduce more sustainable and ecologically-friendly materials in their products. Roughly half of all cork production occurs in Portugal. The present work employs a comparative life cycle assessment approach between traditional plastic and rubber insole material and cork insole material to investigate the environmental impact of each. Results show that during each stage of the insole life …

One Theme, Infinite Interpretations. Exploring Perspective Through Photo Sharing., Avery Gosselin

Honors College

In this creative Honors Thesis project, I have developed an initial, beta version, of an application that celebrates diverse perspectives through photo sharing within an interactive mobile interface. This application, titled NüLens and developed using the React Native framework, takes the form of a participatory digital art project, where members of the public have captured and submitted photos that (in their eyes) represent a predefined theme (in this initial release, the theme of nature). These photos were then aggregated into a mosaic of all other user-submitted photos relating to that theme, along with options to filter and sort the images …

One Man’S Trash: Duke Riley’S Archive And The Social Construction Of Garbage, Deirdre M. Sullivan

Student Publications

In a post-industrial society, Americans have to grapple with the result of seemingly endless production: trash. The amount of trash produced every day is a rising threat to the planet and its inhabitants; every decision made for the future must also take into account waste, rubbish, and refuse that will never break down or be fully removed from our waterways. Some artists, such as contemporary artist Duke Riley, have embraced the use of trash in their art as a critique of capitalism and consumerism. One of his most notable works is the Poly S. Tyrene Memorial Maritime Museum series, a …

Bridging The Education Gap: Series Of Infographic Guides To Sustainable Living For Low-Income Communities, Brianna Mateo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Low-income communities in Australia face numerous negative impacts, such as health issues, social exclusion, educational disparities, and discrimination, which limit their opportunities to improve their quality of life (The Public Defenders,2022). As a result, students from these communities often have fewer resources and less funding, contributing to poor educational outcomes and underrepresentation in STEM fields, which includes environmental education (Australian Department of Education, 2022).

To address these challenges, I created an 8-page infographic series titled “Sustainable Living: On a Budget.” The series includes a cover page, an overview page, and four infographics covering : climate change, waste, preserving biodiversity, and …

Talking To The Earth: A Digital Documentation Of Biodiversity In The Sherpa Language, Dvij Sharma

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Identified as a pressing matter by organizations as prominent as the UN, the conservation of minority and indigenous languages “is essential for ensuring the continuation and transmission of culture, customs, and history, but it is also important to address biodiversity loss and climate change.” This project focuses on one of the latter issues, biodiversity loss, as it relates to Sherpa, a minority language spoken primarily in Eastern Nepal. In an effort to help preserve the native vocabulary and descriptions of basic plants and animals found in Sherpa-speaking regions, primarily interview-based fieldwork was conducted in the lower Solu regions of Lumsa, …

Consumo Verde ¿Para Quién?: Las Tierras, Cosmovisiones, Y Personas Escondidas Detrás De La Fiebre Del Oro Blanco / Green Consumption, For Who?: The Lands, World Views, And People Hidden Behind The White Gold Rush., Gabriel Gómez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La “Transición energética” a consumo verde ha sido reconocida globalmente como el camino necesario para evitar lo peor de la crisis climática, pero es una solución que depende en un aumento del litio. La manera más usada para extraer el litio genera impactos destructivos en los ambientes que contienen el recurso, y en Sudamérica, donde los habitantes son mayormente indígena. Usando las comunidades de Salinas Grandes y Laguna de Guayatayoc en Jujuy, Argentina como un caso práctico, este proyecto propone analizar cómo el discurso hegemónico del consumo verde invisibiliza a gente indígena, y cómo estas comunidades resisten entendimientos occidentales y …

Impact Of Wildlife Provisioning On Species Diversity, Relative Frequency, And Richness In New South Wales, Alanah Cohen-Tigör

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Wildlife provisioning and camera trapping are two recently evolving methods of conservation and wildlife management, aimed at protecting animals in the face of ever worsening climate change. Habitats are being destroyed by climate disruption, decreasing species diversity and abundance worldwide. It is imperative that methods of protecting species are developed to slow or reverse this era of extinction. By providing supplementary food and water to ecological communities, the hope is that species will have improved survivorship and reproduction, making them more resilient and resistant to population decline. Camera trapping is product of modern technology, allowing researchers to monitor species without …