Changing Gears – Page 4 – UROP Spring Symposium 2021

Changing Gears

Why Fight? The Causes and Consequences of Joining a Tyrant’s Army

What role does military service have in the behavior of oppressed minority groups after wars? Current knowledge states combat experience empowers veterans’ organizational skills and ability to engage in collective action. However, there is little information that further elaborates how wartime skills and abilities are utilized by individuals and groups once the conflict ends. Furthermore, it is unknown if there is a significant difference in post-war behavior in members of elite groups and members of minority groups and how such a difference contributes to the stability of an authoritarian regime. This study uses 19th and 20th century data from official Russian records to explain how military service impacted the behavior of minority groups towards the state after World War I. We use records of the Russian Imperial Army during World War I, the Red Guard during the Russian Civil War, and the 1897 Russian Census in analyses at the individual and community levels. We use the Imperial Army and the Red Guard datasets in a Bayesian Nonparametric Spatial Regression Discontinuity design at district borders to empircally identify the post-war behavior of World War I veterans. The 1897 Census dataset is used to establish district borders and other aspects of the Russian nation and state at the time. Early results suggest soldiers belonging to disenfranchised minority groups were more likely to oppose the Tsar and align with the Red Guard. Additionally, inhabitants of districts with high percentages of oppressed minority groups were more likely to align with the Red Guard. The overall results suggest military service among disenfranchised groups is crucial for engaging in significant resistance to oppressive regimes

Why Fight? The Causes and Consequences of Joining a Tyrant’s Army Read More »

Understanding Graduate Student Perspectives of Mental Health

Mental health challenges are rising in higher education across the United States. We investigate doctoral students’ experiences concerning mental health in academia and their perceptions of university responses to wellbeing concerns. Through 30 semi-structured interviews with students enrolled in all levels of the PhD, we find that while participants are aware of wellbeing resources offered by the university, their perceptions suggest the short-term nature of counseling is not fit for graduate students’ needs. Although participants from all backgrounds reported feeling anxiety and impostor syndrome on account of their academic experiences, such problems are exacerbated for members of minoritized groups, many of whom do not see themselves reflected in role models or the canon of literature in their field. We identify tensions among expectations of knowledge construction and faculty advising. Our findings have implications for stronger institutional relationships with external counselors, increased peer group support, and effective communication about doctoral expectations.

Understanding Graduate Student Perspectives of Mental Health Read More »

Audio to Phone Transcription — Illustration with Mandarin

Generally, linguists’ first step in analyzing any language is to transcribe audio files into written representation. This is an extremely time-consuming process because the committed time to audio length ratio for an experienced linguist is about 100:1, which slows down the analysis of language tremendously. In addition, despite many advances in language technology, there does not exist such a tool with which any audio file in any language could be converted into transcribed phones automatically. Our research project focuses on developing a method to convert audio files of speech to transcribed phones (consonants and vowels), without prior knowledge of the target language.

Audio to Phone Transcription — Illustration with Mandarin Read More »

Safety Applications from Connected Vehicle Trajectories

Connected Vehicle (CV) technology allows road users and the transportation infrastructure to maintain constant communication. This technology is anticipated to increase safety, enhance mobility, and curb the environmental footprint of the transportation sector. However, for these benefits to be realized, data-driven applications need to be developed. This project focuses on using CV data to develop a safety application with a focus on pedestrians–the most vulnerable road users. The goal of this study is to predict a pedestrian’s trajectory so as to intervene and prevent dangerous scenarios that pose safety risk to pedestrians . In order to develop our application, we use data gathered in the form of multi-dimensional trajectories in a variety of contexts. We take into account several kinds of time-series data such as latitude, longitude, velocity, acceleration, rotation etc. This data is then processed to be used as input to a deep learning model that can predict the future trajectory of an agent according to its history trajectory. Deep learning is selected because it allows for predicting future trajectory without making modeling assumptions. To predict the future trajectory, we define a reachable set for each sub-trajectory. Next, we develop a framework called step attention composed of multiple deep-learning models, the output of which is the trajectory of an agent in the next few seconds. The ultimate goal of this application is to alert pedestrians or vehicles of imminent high-risk situations and possibly recommend actions on how to avoid such situations altogether, or reduce the severity of an upcoming incident if it cannot be avoided.

Safety Applications from Connected Vehicle Trajectories Read More »

Testing and Formulation of Icephobic Coatings

The buildup of ice on surfaces can be detrimental to the performance of essential infrastructures, technologies, and transportation systems such as aircrafts, ships, turbines, powerlines, and more. Icephobic coatings can act as a shield against the accumulation of ice on surfaces, providing a cost-effective way of protecting the integrity and safety of systems and reducing or eliminating potential maintenance costs created by ice damage. There are numerous combinations of reagents, solvents, and catalysts that, when reacted together, form a product exhibiting icephobic properties. An ideal icephobic coating will have an ice adhesion strength, defined as the force required to debond a specified area of ice from a substrate, of less than 100 kPa. Additionally, it is desired for these coatings to be optically clear and to have fast curing, or drying, rates. The purpose of this research is to find a formula that provides low ice adhesion strength, optimal optical properties, and a fast curing rate. Low adhesion strength and clear coatings are relatively simple to produce, but these properties in conjunction with a fast curing rate (ideally of just a few minutes) poses a challenge. Making use of polyurethane as the base polymer for icephobicity, the amounts and choices of reagents, solvents, and catalysts were changed to produce different formulas. Ice adhesion numbers were tested for all samples, and the samples were compared to one another to determine which gave the most desired results. By changing the amounts of one variable (such as solvent, catalyst, oil, or diisocyanate amount) and keeping all others constant, the affect that each variable has on the icephobic properties of the formula could be studied.

Testing and Formulation of Icephobic Coatings Read More »

Building A Simulated World

Due to the high demand for motor vehicles, one of the key concerns for the automotive industry is to make vehicles accessible and safe. Both real test vehicles and driving simulators are used to assess the quality and performance of vehicles. However, many driving simulators are too expensive to purchase, too complex to use, take too long to run the software, and sometimes lack the desired functional characteristics. The goal of the research is to build a virtual world and an easy-to-use virtual driving simulator platform through the creative use of free software like CARLA and RoadRunner. This driving simulator will be suitable to support research on driver distraction, driver workload, and driver interfaces for partially automated vehicles. This will also inspire qualified people to use the simulation and work on safety on roads. Keywords: simulator, accident, driver distraction, 3D- map, RoadRunner.

Building A Simulated World Read More »

Computed tomography reconstruction of fossil vertebrates

In our research project we are studying CT examination of ancient vertebrates. Understanding morphology can illuminate the possible relationships between ancient fish vertebrates and the niches they inhabited. The fish species that will be examined for this are lungfishes, which are often described as “living fossils.” A “living fossil” is a broadly applied term but can be generally understood as an organism exhibiting a close resemblance to its older relatives found in the fossil record. This project utilizes 3D reconstructions of fossil sarcopterygian fishes to enhance our understanding of their place in the phylogenetic tree. We acquired fossils from various universities and museums across the country, and segmented out their lower jaws using the program Materialize by Mimics. By doing this our work will be turned into 3D models in the program Blender. These 3D models will then be used to “landmark” or flag important differences between the jaw structure in both the same and different species. Based on Landmark data we can better understand their place in the phylogenetic tree and the relationship between morphology, diversity, and the environmental niches of these fishes.

Computed tomography reconstruction of fossil vertebrates Read More »

Adolescent Eating Habits and Motivation at the Initiation of an mHealth Behavior Study

Background: In the United States, obesity is the most common chronic illness among adolescents, and it is especially prevalent in Black/African American and Hispanic/LatinX populations. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of obesity for children aged 2 to 19 years old was 25.8% for Hispanic youth and 22% for non-Hispanic Black youth, compared to only 14.1% for non-Hispanic White youth. Excess weight has put millions of Black and Hispanic/LatinX adolescents in the US at risk for morbidity and premature mortality. However, communications technology offers a novel way to deliver tailored health behavior interventions for these youth. As part of a larger project to design an app to help adolescents make healthy choices at fast food restaurants (FFR), we assessed participants’ fast food eating habits and their willingness to consider making changes when eating out.

Adolescent Eating Habits and Motivation at the Initiation of an mHealth Behavior Study Read More »

CHEAR Research Project

Background: Obesity is prevalent among adolescents living in the United States, and Black/African American and Hispanic/LatinX adolescents are disproportionately affected. Between 2018-19, the prevalence of obesity for Caucasian youth aged 10-17 years old was 11.5%, while the prevalence for Hispanic youth was 20.7%, and for Black youth the prevalence was 22.9%. Recent studies have shown that fast food franchises target areas with a high density of minority youth, leading to increased fast food consumption. However, with the emerging use of technology, mobile applications can help encourage adolescents to make healthier food choices and improve daily health habits. Tailored app content including images that are viewed as appealing and personally relevant provide a promising way to increase the effectiveness of mHealth applications. Yet little is known about Hispanic/Latinx teens’ preferences regarding images to be used in a health promotion app.

CHEAR Research Project Read More »

Murdering the Leviathan: State Death since 1815

This project seeks to further the literature on state death, focusing on the period beginning with the establishment of the new international system by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and continuing until present. The research attempts to establish a complete databank of state death that expands upon current literature which experts in the field find helpful but inadequate. Much of this is built off Correlates of War by David Singer. The data includes several parameters that allows for a more thorough study of state death, including military and economic factors. Information is gathered from various primary sources such as government records and accounts, as well as secondary sources from other academics who have explored this topic. The research on state death is being complimented by additional data on military conflicts during the time period to build a complete picture. The goal is for this research to assist social scientist looking at international politics over the past two decades and provide a framework of data that can be accessible those interested in this topic.

Murdering the Leviathan: State Death since 1815 Read More »

lsa logoum logo