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Extending Simulation-Enhanced Bayesian Optimization of System Designs: A Computational Study
Get PDFThis honors thesis builds off work initially accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the 2025 IISE Annual Conference & Expo, which introduced “Simulation-Enhanced Bayesian Optimization” (SEBO)—a hybrid testing optimization approach that combined the usage of unbiased but costly physical experiments with the usage of cheaper but potentially biased computer experiments to optimize engineered systems. The original study established the SEBO methodology and demonstrated its effectiveness on a multimodal, two-dimensional benchmark function. Expanding on the work performed, we conduct a broader evaluation of the SEBO framework through parameter testing and experimentation under a variety of additional benchmark functions. This investigation seeks to assess the robustness, flexibility, and performance of our method under a variety of different testing conditions. Results of the study further showcase the potential of the SEBO methodology and enhance our understanding of hybrid Bayesian optimization techniques
Assessing Language Skills of Children Within the Head Start Program Using Language Sampling Analysis
Get PDFFluency disorders, including stuttering and cluttering, disrupt one’s natural rate of speech and can cause implications for one’s emotional well-being. This study explores the relationship between language factors and stuttered events in preschool-age children by analyzing a spontaneous language sample using two transcription software programs, CLAN and SALT. A language sample was collected from a child enrolled in a local Head Start program and was transcribed and analyzed using the software programs. Results from CLAN’s KIDEVAL and FLUCALC features offered analysis of the child’s language profile, as well as SALT’s standards measure report feature. This study highlights the importance of LSA in the assessment process for fluency disorders along with creating intervention plans
Investigation of Neurophysiological Changes in Hypothalamic Hormone Synthesis and Brain Matter Alterations During Stages of Anorexia Nervosa Recovery
No full textBackground: Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a psychiatric eating disorder that causes serious health consequences due to nutrient deprivation. Because of this, it has been associated with disrupted hypothalamic (HPT) function and changes to brain morphology. Rat models can be useful to understand the physiological consequences of AN both during the disease and after weight recovery. Purpose: Use MRI analysis and PCR testing to investigate brain matter volume alterations and HPT hormone synthesis alterations during simulated AN and following weight recovery. Methodology: Female Sprague Dawley rats (n= 66, 11/group, 8 weeks old) underwent simulated AN for 30 days with 50-60% food restriction. Recovery stages included no recovery (AN), 5 days (AN-5R) or 15 days (AN-15R), and 30 days (AN-30R). Short-term recovery groups were compared to an age-matched control (CON), and long-term recovery groups were compared to CON-30R. HPT tissue was collected and stored in -80°C post-euthanasia. MKRN3, Kiss1, TAC3, PDYN, GNRH, and Leptin Receptor genes were analyzed using RNA extraction and PCR testing, normalized to Rn45. MRI was performed immediately after euthanasia. ImageJ software quantified total brain volume (TBV), gray matter volume (GMV), white matter volume (WMV), and CSF volume. Short-term recovery data were analyzed by 1-way ANOVA with a Dunnett’s post-hoc test; long-term recovery data were analyzed by a T-test (p\u3c 0.05). Results: The contents of genes present in the HPT for both short and long-term recovery groups were not statistically significant compared to the control groups (p\u3e0.05). The MRI data posed statistical significance for alterations in GMV during short-term recovery (68316 + 1004.14 v. 74919 + 1073.47 v. 71194 + 1004.14 v. 73146 + 898.13 mm3, p= 0.0006) and WMV during long-term recovery (6157.27 + 365.03 v. 7507.73 + 365.03 mm3, p= 0.0165). TBV approached significance during short-term recovery but fell short (80416 + 1104.65 v. 83407 + 1235.03 v. 83230 + 1235.03 v. 84695 + 1053.24 mm3, p= 0.0594). Discussion: No significant changes HPT gene content suggest normal function of the HPT. There was high variability amongst these groups which could indicate factors like individual weight status, stage of estrous cycle, or another unknown variable causing this variability. MRI data showed a significant decrease in GMV, consistent with previous studies, indicating potential issues in decision-making and self-perception in individuals with AN. WMV was reduced following weight recovery suggesting possible long-lasting complications of the brain’s communication processes in those with a prior history with AN. Premature aging is also a concern as brain matter is shown to decrease with age. Investigating the short- and long-term complications associated with AN can help progress the understanding and development of possible therapeutic interventions
What\u27s in it for me? The Benefits of Breastfeeding for the Mother
Get PDFThe purpose of this systematic review was to investigate both the short- and long-term benefits that breastfeeding has on maternal physical and mental health. The PICOT question was: In postpartum mothers, how does breastfeeding compared to formula and mixed feeding affect maternal physical and mental health, including outcomes in cardiovascular health, BMI, bleeding risk, and mental health both short term and long term? For this research, EBSCOhost and the National Library of Medicine databases were searched to find relevant studies and systematic reviews. Terms such as “breastfeeding and maternal health benefits,” “breastfeeding and postpartum health,” and “breastfeeding and weight loss” were used to find appropriate studies. The review included 15 peer-reviewed articles, all published within the previous 5 years, that focus on the benefits of breastfeeding for the mother. The benefits of breastfeeding for the mother are clear and numerous, both short- and long-term. Pronounced long-term benefits include increased prevention of cardiovascular disease, decreased allostatic load, decreased incidence of breast and ovarian cancers, and decreased incidence of type two diabetes mellitus. Important short-term benefits include improved mental health and reduced rates of postpartum depression, better quality sleep, decreased BMI, improved recovery with less bleeding, and many more. Promoting awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and expectant mothers would serve the interest of public health as a whole. Tiny Tusks Breastfeeding and Infant Support program addresses this need by providing mothers a safe and clean place to breastfeed at almost all Arkansas athletic events. The program provides education to mothers and the community on the benefits of breastfeeding. Additionally, their resources make breastfeeding at public athletic events more accessible and comfortable. Although research supporting these outcomes is available, additional studies related to the effects of public health interventions, such as programs like Tiny Tusks, may be needed. Since most recent studies have focused on the breastfeeding couplet (mother-baby), additional studies focused primarily on maternal outcomes could improve our understanding of the effects breastfeeding has on specifically the mother. More community education about these effects and benefits could serve to both increase breastfeeding rates and improve maternal health
Closing Equity Gaps in Biomedical Engineering: Measuring the Influence of a Clinical Immersion Class on Marginalized Students
No full textCombating clinical challenges with innovative engineering solutions is the sole purpose of biomedical engineering. To equip students with the skills needed for their future careers in biomedical engineering, our department has implemented a junior-level clinical and industry immersion course into the curriculum, aiming to combine unique clinical experience and design building. This service-learning course emphasizes hands-on clinical observation and the identification of healthcare issues, with the goal of building students\u27 confidence and skills in applying the engineering principles that are taught in class. Recognizing the disparities in STEM demographics, this study specifically examines the course\u27s impact on historically marginalized groups (HMG), such as women, Hispanic, Black/African American, Native American, and first-generation students, compared to their non-historically marginalized group (NHMG) counterparts. The disproportionate spread of demographics in engineering poses significant barriers for HMG students. These students often battle with underrepresented or repressive environments, unequal opportunity to resources, and a lack of strong community with their peers—factors that can affect confidence and students’ overall chances at succeeding.
This ongoing study evaluates the effectiveness of the clinical immersion course closing disparities between students by analyzing pre- and post-course survey data. The surveys, which included both quantitative and qualitative questions, assessed students\u27 skill development, sense of self-competence, and awareness of healthcare disparities. Overall, results showed the course was effective at increasing growth in skills, such as engineering design capability and understanding customer perspectives, for all students. Quantitative findings revealed significant gains in confidence and skill development across students, with HMG students demonstrating the most visible growth despite starting with lower confidence levels in comparison to NHMG students. Qualitative analysis using NVivo sentiment software highlighted the value students placed on clinical exposure and getting to speak to professionals, highlighting its role in deepening their understanding of engineering practices and healthcare inequities.
Despite the positive impact the course had on all students, the trend of lower confidence levels for HMG students before the course was taken alludes to the disparities these students may face in the classroom. By addressing these inequities in biomedical engineering education, we can begin to strategize how we can improve curricula and programs that are inclusive and tailored for underrepresented students, aiming to close the gap and promote equity in the classroom in order to build great future engineers.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/hnrcsturpc25/1051/thumbnail.jp
End Times: American Mortality, Death Materiality, and Social Death in the 1990s
No full textThe United States in the 1990s was marked by pervasive representations of death in popular culture. As death imagery became increasingly visible in entertainment, there was a growing detachment from the embodied, biological realities of death, a tension intensified by the ongoing AIDS crisis. This project explores how death is politicized and how decisions about who lives and dies are shaped by power. I draw on a constellation of theoretical frameworks that collectively illuminate the operations of state-sanctioned death and social abandonment. These include Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics, which examines the management of life by state power; Giorgio Agamben’s focus on the production of the corpse as a byproduct of sovereign authority; and Achille Mbembe’s formulation of necropolitics, which extends biopolitical analysis into the realm of war and racialized violence. I also incorporate insights from queer theory, critical race theory, and death studies to trace how marginalized identities are targeted for physical and social death. The project begins with readings of Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Don DeLillo’s White Noise, which establish foundational associations between death and the American cultural psyche leading into the 1990s. I then analyze the political use of the corpse in AIDS activism, focusing on ACT UP and DIVA TV’s documentation of protest funerals. Following this, I examine Jonathan Larson’s Rent and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes to explore the tensions between capitalism and what I term queer (pro)creation--an ethos of community care, legacy-building, and artistic protest. Finally, I turn to Tananarive Due’s The Between and Stephen King’s The Green Mile to consider the material and liminal dimensions of racialized death, particularly as manifested in modern-day lynching and state executions