12685 research outputs found
Sort by
Unfinished Business
Get PDFThis ten-minute, five-person play explores the afterlife of four ghosts from all different walks of life and their intersection with a living girl, all in the same apartment. This comedic play exhibits the importance of cooperation, understanding, and empathy, as well as discussing the philosophical ideas of life and death. Unfinished Business stays true to its title by discussing what business people may leave behind, and how important may be to finish it
Probing Gluon Contribution to Proton Spin with STAR 2015 Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter Data
Get PDFProbing the gluon’s contribution to proton spin is an important goal of the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) located at Brookhaven National Laboratory. We aim to refine our knowledge of the gluon spin contribution to aid in solving the proton spin puzzle as the contributions of the proton’s constituent parts to its spin remain uncertain. In this analysis, we utilize 52 pb-1 of longitudinally polarized proton-proton (p+p) collision data taken by the STAR experiment at √s = 200 GeV. Our measurement uses the Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EEMC), which is stationed at a pseudorapidity range of 1.1 \u3c η \u3c 2.0 and can detect photons from the decays of neutral pions (π0s). A new data quality assurance (QA) method has been implemented, which increases the number of entries in QA histograms such as the reconstructed π0 mass, signal fraction, and number of towers hit in the EEMC. The original QA method suffered from accidental numerical losses of π0 candidates due to ROOT command line methods, while the new method recovers them using full STAR libraries. The revised data will be used to calculate the spin-dependent asymmetry of π0 production (ALL), which is sensitive to the gluon’s contribution to the proton’s spin. The status and impact of the new quality assurance method will be presented, along with prospects for the ALL measurement
Exploring Plant-Derived Compounds to Combat Microbial Infections Related to Space Travel
Get PDFNovel antimicrobial agents are crucial due to rising superbugs and declining drug development, threatening millions by 2050. In addition to being a terrestrial cause for concern, antimicrobial resistant microbes threaten the health of individuals during space travel. Recent studies show several opportunistic bacteria and fungi have colonized the International Space Station (ISS), and many strains possess antimicrobial resistance. Additionally, reports have highlighted how space travel may alter the immune system, placing astronauts at higher risk of infection. Therefore, our research focuses on testing bacterial and fungal pathogens that have been isolated on the ISS against methanolic and hexane extracts of various medicinal plants, such as Argemone mexicana. From previous work by our group, several antimicrobial compounds were isolated from the roots and leaves of A. mexicana, including berberine, chelerythrine and sanguinarine (work published in PLOS ONE in 2021). Since then, we have synthesized multiple rationally-designed variants of these original phytocompounds (over twenty berberine and four chelerythrine variants) and have tested these A. mexicana-inspired phytocompounds for altered antimicrobial activities. In this poster, we present the results from two novel berberine-variant compounds of particular interest due to their increased antibacterial effects against gram-positive bacteria, yet reduced toxicity against the eukaryotic fungal cell lines tested. Antimicrobial trends and mechanism alterations (via an alkaline phosphatase assay) for these unique compounds, as well as changes in drug potency in a simulated microgravity environment (using a clinostat) are presented herein. This work is funded through an Indiana Space Grant Consortium (INSGC) NASA grant
Effect of Simulated Microgravity on Candida albicans Resistance to Antifungal Drugs
Get PDFCandida albicans is an opportunistic commensal fungus that can respond to the stress of low-shear modeled microgravity by exhibiting phenotypes associated with increased virulence. In previous studies, C. albicans have demonstrated increased resistance to amphotericin B under microgravity conditions, but no change in resistance to caspofungin. Here, we investigated how microgravity (3 and 5 days) influences the resistance of two C. albicans strains (SC5314 and from Carolina) to clotrimazole (200 µg/µl) and amphotericin B (250 µg/µl). Resistance was evaluated by measuring the zone of inhibition (ZOI) around the treatment discs after 24 hours of exposure to the drugs in the presence or absence of microgravity. We used a clinostat to create microgravity. In summary, we found that on minimum plates, 3 days of pre-exposure to microgravity increased sensitivity to antifungal drugs, which reversed after 5 days of pre-exposure to microgravity. On YEPD plates, 3 days microgravity did not change drug sensitivity, but at 5 days we observed an increase resistance to amphotericin B for SC5314 and increase sensitivity for the Carolina strains
Synthesis and Optimization of Berberine Derivatives as Antimicrobial Agents
No full textPathogenic bacterial and fungal infections are some of the leading causes of death in the population at large. Antimicrobial-resistant “superbugs” have become a growing issue worldwide as well as on the International Space Station, and there is a great need to explore new and alternative pathways for fighting these diseases. Through a collaborative project, we have explored extracts of the Argemone mexicana plant to isolate antimicrobial agents found within this plant. We have already identified three key molecules, notably berberine, which give this plant antimicrobial properties. Guided by the structures of the plant-derived molecules, our current work is focused on designing and synthesizing new variants of these bioactive molecules in the hopes of discovering new, more potent, drugs. Thus far, several of our synthetic variants have shown promising activity over the original phytochemicals isolated from the plant. Trends have emerged showing enhanced antibacterial activity with more hydrophobic variants
From Multilingualism to Car Chats: What Viewers Want in Informational Videos
No full textVideos are an undeniably useful and accessible way to share information. This can be especially important for parents and caregivers looking for information related to their child’s development, or for organizations wanting to share this information with the general public. There is little information on the types of videos people enjoy watching, or that they can retain the most information from. To look into this, we ran a focus group consisting of 2 sessions with 5 students each. They were shown previously made informational videos about talking, reading, and singing to children through the Talking is Teaching campaign in Porter County, IN. The findings indicated that participants were especially interested in topics such as sorting and categorization, multilingualism, and talking and singing in the car. Ratings from the videos were collected in order to improve videos made in the future for the Talking is Teaching campaign
Effectiveness of Live-Action vs. Animated Videos in Education
No full textLanguage development, occurring prenatally and throughout childhood, is a stage that significantly impacts one’s abilities to produce and understand language throughout their lifetime. The goal of this study is to find an accessible way to equip caregivers with video-training to help them set their child up for success during language development. Parent’s understanding of childhood development is related to their child’s efficiency in moving through stages, specifically in relation to the acquisition of language (Booth, 2018). Existing literature has shown the power of video-training, such that parents who received it could implement new activities with their children, increasing the development of language-related skills (Blom-Hoffman, 2008).Thus, a video-training program containing facts and activities related to language development is a resource caregivers can use to better understand their child\u27s needs during this stage. Research about video formating with college students has found that participants learn best from combined audio and visual aspects that included social cues from footage of the instructor speaking (Brünken, 2002; Kizilcec, 2015). These features can be present in both live-action and animated formats; therefore this study focuses on finding out if individuals learn better from a live-action or an animated format. We compare learning outcomes from live-action videos compared to a closely matched animation, seeing if one is more effective in relaying memorable information. Findings from this research will give insight to what types of videos are the most effective to equip parents with the knowledge they need to support their child during language development
Tidal Wound
Get PDF“No water, no life. No blue, no green.” ~ Sylvia Earle
The focus of my artwork is on the effects of pollution on not only the sea, but also ourselves. Humans use the ocean for many things: transportation, food, water. We rely on it, yet we are the first to abuse it. My work, called Tidal Wound, is a mixed media collage that uses recycled material and environmentally friendly paints. The main focus is the ocean and the endangered sea life as a result of pollution. My goal is to create a cohesive piece that depicts beauty, but also makes people think. I want the viewer to look closer, see the devastation caused by harmful materials in the ocean, and feel a sense of discomfort and unnaturalness from recycled sea life. My hope is that this project will generate awareness as well as inspire viewers to work for a brighter, cleaner, and safer future
CFD Analysis Comparison of Spoiler Effect on Airflow around Airbus 320 Midspan Airfoil
No full textModern airplanes typically have a line of spoilers on the back edge of the wing that when extended disrupt airflow over the surface of the airfoil. The broken-up air flow reduces the lift force and increases the drag force which slows down the plane. I am seeking to model the airflow around the wings that leads to the change in forces. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications can model the flow around objects and find characteristics of the flow such as pressure, velocity, temperature, and force distributions. I made the Airbus A320 midspan airfoil in SolidWorks and imported the geometry into SimScale software for CFD analysis. Spoilers are usually deployed during the landing of the aircraft to decrease speed, and with that important function, it is vital to know the fluid flow around the airplane wing when spoilers are and are not deployed. I am conducting a CFD analysis in SimScale to model the airflow around the airfoil with and without the spoiler extended. The goal is to compare the effects of spoiler extension on airflow velocity around the airfoils. This study gives a greater understanding of spoiler effect on airflow around airplane wings