Changing Gears

Finding New Planets Around Ancient Stars

The observation of exoplanets orbiting ancient stars allows us to understand not only distant solar systems inhibiting these worlds but our own solar system as well. In particular, the method of locating and analyzing these exoplanets allows us to delve into a deeper understanding of host stars and planets themselves. However, there are a limited number of methods in finding these exoplanets, as well as difficulty in overcoming observing inaccuracies when perceived from Earth. With the transiting lightcurve method and the collection of data from the Transiting Exoplanet Surveying Satellite (TESS), we are able to more efficiently observe details of transiting planet events through the change in flux of a host star. This results in thousands of stellar light curves to examine in order to detect planet candidates, binary stars, variable stars, and other stellar phenomena. The successful finding of an exoplanet through this method allows a multitude of future investigations to take place such as atmospheric analysis and astrobiological implications.

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

xlzhu

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.

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CHEAR Research Project

darrylhe

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.

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Murdering the Leviathan: State Death since 1815

delgadot

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.

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Simulation of intracardiac electrograms to aid in the study of cardiac arrhythmias

evacheng

The main task of my project is to study the electrocardiogram(ECG) of human hearts, by building a model that can simulate the heart beats and then train it to be able to read in data from patients in real-life and give a diagnose through machine learning. The human heart Myocytes beats under the flow of ions(in-and-out and among cells) causing changes in voltages on cell membranes, which can be measured(through ECG). Under abnormal conditions, these regular changes will be disrupted, causing chaos in the electric flows in certain pattern(based on the specific illness). The change of voltage based on time can be expressed in mathematical ways using a set of differential equations. The features of the cells can be captured through object oriented programming: they all have periodic pulses but in different patterns due to their specific role in heart. After building such model, we can train it with data from real patients so that it will give a primary judgement on new patients. This tool is meant to help doctors, especially who works in emergency, with a relatively reliable suggestion which may improve the efficiency of giving a medical diagnose.

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Student Learning of Qualitative Methods in a Team-Based Tiered Mentorship Approach Through Analysis of Police Role in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

gadietz

Qualitative analysis, and an associated team-based approach in learning these methods, has grown increasingly popular. However, many students find learning qualitative analysis difficult due to limited exposure in early higher education and the absence of a standardized process for qualitative inquiry. Prior studies on teaching and learning qualitative methods highlighted the importance of group work, asking questions, and openness to discussions. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is not much in the literature about the role of a tiered team-based mentorship program in it’s teaching. We sought to foster improved understanding of qualitative research for undergraduate trainees, as well as conduct exploration of the influence of a team-based approach on learning qualitative analysis. A core team of research mentors conducting qualitative analysis of data collected on police role in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) led trainings for four undergraduate students over the course of seven months. These training sessions leveraged data from the OHCA study to facilitate presentations and group discussions dedicated to qualitative methods. Mentors and trainees convened on a weekly basis for one hour to discuss aspects of qualitative research.

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Tolerance of Toxicities of Oral Anticancer Agents among Older Adults with Advanced Cancers

achittip

This project is focused on older adults taking oral anticancer agents, OAA. Specifically, capecitabine, an oral chemotherapy, is studied for its use in older adults with advanced cancer. Potentially, older patients may less tolerate OAA toxicities, which will impact the treatment effects and their quality of life. The overarching purpose is to explore the occurrence and effects of OAA toxicity-related symptoms in older adults taking capecitabine using real-world patient data from EHR. We will examine the potential differences in side effects of patients aged more than 65 years and patients less than 65 years from the use of capecitabine. From this data analysis, we will identify determinants through demographics, clinical characteristics, performance status, and the impact of OAA toxicity on treatment plan and performance status changes.

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Vaxign 2: Web-based Rational Vaccine Design based on Reverse Vaccinology and Machine Learning

mifcooke

Reverse vaccinology (RV) is a technique that allows the prediction of vaccine candidates from a pathogen’s genome enabling the more efficient development of new vaccines and improvements on existing vaccines. Vaxign2 is the second generation of the first web-based vaccine design program leveraging reverse vaccinology with machine learning via Vaxign-ML. Validation benchmarking has shown Vaxign-ML’s superior prediction performance compared to other RV tools. Vaxign2 has also implemented predictive analyses workflows to empower users to quickly refine prediction results based on different vaccine design rationales. A use case is presented with the successful analysis of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

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Mid-Life Interventions to Reduce Age-Related Fragility Fractures

ckadur

The average age of the general population is increasing with the number of positive correlations that showcase an increase in the number of fractures then an individual can experience with increased age. This review study aims to determine the interventions that should be implemented at the midlife or earlier in order to stabilize the bone mass density throughout the course of an individual’s lifetime. This study was conducted from the analysis of literature regarding a large depth of peer-review journal articles that have been conducted in an attempt to provide a clear picture to reduce the reduction of bone mass density later in life. We are able to see that continuous physical interventions as well as increased supplementation in key areas are able to hold the longevity of bone mass density. It is recommended that by using these techniques, we are able to accrue as much bone mass and then maintain the density to offset the likely-hood of a fracture occurring throughout a lifetime.

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Rapid Understanding of Best Practices in Rural Intensive Care (RUBRIC)

phazrati

The U.S. has had great disparities between rural and urban hospital resources – particularly with intensive care. Rural ICUs have much less resources as compared to urban ICUs and as such, have been impacted differently by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to work on characterizing adaptations made by rural ICUs in response to COVID-19 along with setting up for further studies which contribute to the development of a toolkit of methods used by high-functioning rural ICUs. This toolkit will provide knowledge and understanding of ways in which rural ICU care can be made more effective. The toolkit will be created by conducting a randomized, nationwide survey of ICU administrators who can answer questions regarding their ICU’s changes to resources including capacity, staffing, policies, and workflow in response to the pandemic. We hypothesize that high-performing rural ICUs have made particular adaptations that have aided them in providing effective patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, we predict that hospitals will respond by 1. Reducing barriers to inter-hospital transfer and 2. Expanding alternative care strategies. In order to identify these adaptations, we are conducting a randomized nationwide survey of ICU administrators at rural ICUs about their adaptations in response to COVID-19. Upon completion of the survey, the responses received will be analyzed and a toolkit of resources will be developed and rapidly disseminated. Our toolkit of resources will allow rural ICUs to prepare for future public health emergencies by optimizing resources and maximizing patient care.

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