IUPUI Research Day 2015

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/6250

A program book describing the Research Day 2015 events and posters is available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1805/9289.

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Academic Success of English Language Learners: Are Mainstream Teachers Underprepared?
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Covarrubias, Maritza; Teemant, Annela; Bhathena, Cathy
The population of English Language Learners (ELLs) in Indiana schools has increased over the years and will keep increasing. However, the graduation rates of ELLs and their standardized test scores are not improving. After reading various articles about why this might be occurring and using my personal experience as an ELL, there was one factor that stood out to me: mainstream teachers are underprepared to work with ELLs. The purpose of this research project is to investigate how prepared mainstream teachers feel to work with ELLs and what, if any, are the barriers that keep them from doing so. For this project, I will be using mixed methods research: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research will be the primary method and will be collected in the form of teacher interviews. These interviews will include questions about how teachers feel about working with ELLs and the teachers’ observations about how ELLs function in their classrooms. The qualitative research will be supported by quantitative research that will be collected through surveys and classroom observations of teacher pedagogy. The overall goal of this project is to help make classrooms places where ELLs can be academically successful and improve graduations rates and test scores.
Activation of Dendritic Cell Function by Soypeptide Lunasin as a Novel Vaccine Adjuvant
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Simmons, Sharena J.; Tung, Chun-Yu; Chang, Hua-Chen
The innate immune system is the first line of defense against intruding pathogens. Dendritic cells (DCs) act as messengers between the adaptive and innate immune system, which process and present antigens to mature T helper cells (CD4+T), and Cytotoxic T cells (CD8+T). The addition of an appropriate adjuvant that activates the innate immunity is essential to subsequent development of the adaptive immunity specific to the vaccine antigens. Thus, any innovation capable of improving the immune responses may lead to a more efficacious vaccine. We recently identified a novel immune modulator using a naturally occurring seed peptide called lunasin. Lunasin was originally isolated from soybeans, and it is a small peptide containing 43 amino acids. Our studies had revealed stimulatory effects of lunasin on innate immune cells by regulating expression of a number of genes that are important for immune responses. The objective was to define the effectiveness of lunasin as an adjuvant that enhances immune responses. Immunization of mice with ovalbumin (OVA) and lunasin inhibited the growth of OVA-expressing A20 B-lymphomas, which was correlated with OVA-specific CD8+ T cells. Increased levels of anti-OVA IgG were also observed in mice immunized with OVA and lunasin. These results suggest that lunasin may function as a vaccine adjuvant by promoting DC maturation, which in turn enhances the development of protective immune responses to the vaccine antigens.
Addressing Disparity: What Aspects of African American Culture Contribute to an Increased Risk for Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID)?
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Ayres, Brook; Fauvergue, Cheyenne; Cullen, Deborah; Stiffler, Deborah
Introduction: African American infants in the United States were 2.4 times more likely to die in the first year of life than white infants. In Indiana, the 2013 overall Infant Mortality Rate was 7.2, but the rate for African Americans was 15.3. Non-breast feeding mothers, sleep positioning, sleep surface, bed sharing, and learning barriers among African American mothers suggest differences in outcomes as compared with infants born in white families. This systematic review of the literature focuses on the corollary variables between SUID and African American culture, specifically what puts African American babies at an increased risk for dying. Methods: A rigorous multi-database search was conducted using key words SUID, African American Culture. Originally we accessed 217 articles. Of these 217 articles, we found fifteen qualitative articles and 28 quantitative articles that met our inclusion criteria of being between the years 1990-2015 and had a specific link between African American culture and SUID. We will be using the System for the Unified Management, Assessment and Review of Information (SUMARI) through the Joanna Briggs Institute. Two tools, the Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument (QARI) and Meta-Analysis of Statistics Assessment Review Instruments (MASTARI) will carry out the validity, reliability and data extraction. Results: Preliminary themes suggest that breast-feeding, sleep positioning, and sleep surface, bed sharing, and learning barriers may contribute to the SUID disparity among African Americans. Conclusion: Further investigation may prove useful in determining what interventions could be placed in practice to decrease SUID in black infants. Health care professionals need to be aware of the disparity when developing their approach to care for African American infants and their families.
Adverse Childhood Events, Empathy, and Altruism
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Le, Ava; Mahurin, Emily; Zarins, Sasha
With a growing prevalence of adverse treatment of children, it is important to look into the longterm effects of negative childhood experiences – specifically their capacities for empathic concern and helping behavior. Empathy is the tendency to read and interpret others’ emotions. Long-term outcomes of adverse childhood events (ACE) include a host of mental health disorders. Other studies have found that, on the other hand, ACE is correlated to an increase in empathy. Previous studies have also indicated that stress can increase prosocial behavior; the latter seems to function in offsetting the effects of the former. Clarification can be found in a motivational process model, which theorizes that experiencing ACE increases one’s motivation to help others who may experience the same circumstances. While ACE may indeed initially result in a blunting of affect, successfully overcoming the effects of these events often leads to a desire to change outcomes for others. 836 adults (72.5% female) completed an online survey that included the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Adverse Childhood Events scale, and the altruistic behaviors scale. In line with previous research, both Adverse Childhood Events, r=.155, p<.001, and empathic concern, r=.188, p<.001, are positively correlated with altruism. However, there is little research that determines the link between adverse childhood events and empathy. Not only are empathic concern, B=.153, p=<.001, and the experience of adverse childhood events, B=.190, p<.001, positively associated with altruism, but there is a strong interaction affect between empathic concern and adverse childhood events, B=.107, p=.002. In other words, the interaction between empathic concern and a history of adverse childhood events is positively associated with altruism. Most research on factors associated with altruism has focused on simple main effects. However, by exploring interaction effects, we can better determine what types of people are more likely to behave altruistically.
The American Media’s Construction of “Participants” in Cases of Police Killings
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Johnson, Morgan Kristine
With several highly publicized police killings in the latter half of 2014, the issue of police brutality has been reignited in the United States, as emotionally charged a topic as ever, dividing Americans politically and socially and racially. This pilot study analyzes how the American media’s language contributes to readers’/hearers’ perception of the identities and roles of those who are victim to and those who enact police brutality. Using a sample of twenty-eight reports of the cases of Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Levar Jones, and Tamir Rice from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, and The Washington Post, I coded for patterns of race-related modifiers and of passivization. Based on the analysis of these articles, I suggest the implications of such use—how race-related descriptors can influence the perception of “participants’” (the involved police officers and the involved citizens) identity in relation to one another, in relation to the event, and in relation to outsiders and how passivization can influence the perception of participants’ roles, implicitly connoting importance, accountability, empowerment, and other such senses.
Analysis of Heart Rate Variability in Male and Female Rats
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Ajayi, Tolulope O.; Santa Cruz Chavez, Grace; Schild, John H.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Quantitative measures of cardiovascular function are often essential to effective clinical interventions. The QRS complex is one such measure widely used by cardiologists. These analyses can involve subtle changes in the magnitude and time course of the QRS complex, to differences in the timing between successive heart beats. Electrocardiograms (ECG) are continuous recordings of the QRS complex at various locations across the body surface and provide a comprehensive measurement of the electrical activity of the heart. Knowledge obtained from investigating ECG signal characteristics can help the cardiologist diagnose possible health or cardiac abnormalities such as arrhythmias and can provide objective measures of heart health following injury such as myocardial infarction. Heart rate variability (HRV) can also serve as a reliable indicator of heart health and has been shown to be a strong indicator of mortality and morbidity following myocardial infarction. Unfortunately, very little is known concerning the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying HRV beyond the broader impact of the autonomic nervous system and associated neurocirculatory reflexes. In this research project, we first implemented several established methods for quantifying HRV in male and female rats such as calculating the power spectral density of a long time series of HRV measures, and calculating the standard deviation of the averages of all beat-to-beat intervals in the recording. These measures compared well to those in the literature supporting the accuracy and reliability of the Matlab scripts created to process these data. Simultaneous recordings of the QRS complex and femoral arterial pressure (BP) provided the opportunity to determine how well BP recordings could be used to quantify HRV. In addition, HRV measurements were compared across populations of male and normal, cycling (OVI) and ovariectomized (OVX) female rats in order to determine if HRV is sexually dimorphic. Mentors: John H. Schild, Grace Santa Cruz Chavez, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI, Indianapolis, IN
An Analysis of Pancreatic Cancer
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Wagle, Pragat
The pancreas is extremely important in various enzymatic activities, such as the production of numerous enzymes such as insulin. Pancreatic Cancer is an extremely deadly disease, which 40,000 people of the 46,000 diagnosed each year fail to survive. It is the 12th most common type of cancer and the 4th leading cause of cancer related deaths. There are 4 stages to Pancreatic ranging from stage 1 to stage 4, where the cancer has spread to a distant organ. Pancreatic cancer is an extremely difficult to diagnose as early symptoms aren’t suggestive as many other illnesses have similar signs and symptoms. Diagnosis can be done through the use of physical examinations, ct scan, ultrasound, endoscopic ultrasound, PET scan, and most effectively a needle biopsy. Currently in development are numerous different therapies. A collective effort is being put forth to further improve current established methods to combat Pancreatic Cancer. A current four-drug chemotherapy, that had results published in May 2011 has shown a 4-month improvement using a regimen called Folfirinox. Compared to treatment with gemcitabine, which is the current therapy mainly utilized, Folfirinox showed improvement on 16 percent more patients in a phase 3 trial. Another trial with a combination of Nab-Paclitaxel and Gemcitabine was conducted against just gemcitabine. Patients with the combination showed a 1.8 months higher average survival rate than without, and showed a significantly higher survival rate through two years of 13% and 5% respectively. Overall these therapies must be reformed to be compatible with a bigger patient population. Subsequently the side effects of the treatments also need to be improved as the side effects include high risk of neutropenia. Both these treatments demonstrate a more efficient therapy and have been implemented into practice but still require improvement.
Android APP: Is Your Car Locked
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Gong, Xiangnan; Chen, Moyuan
This Android application helps people who have dysaudia or amnesia to find out if there was locked successfully. This process was done by the smart phone locally. Users need to setup by play the beep of the car to their smart phone before the first use. The beep will be picked up by the microphone and then processed locally. The smartphone will record the characteristics of the beep for future use. After setup procedure, users can use the APP by simply open the APP and then lock their car. The smartphone will pick up the beep and do the same process, and then try to match the recorded characteristics of the beep. If it is matched, smartphone will show the state of car on screen. This application was planned to be sensitive, accurate and easy to use. The application needs to be able to recognize the beep of the user’s as far as fifty yards. So that if user walked away with car unlocked, they will not need to come back to car. The process cannot be disturbed by surrounding noise. The target users are people who have dysaudia or amnesia. The average age of this group will be order than normal. So it has to be easy to use by old people, that is the operation of the application has to be simple and the displays on the screen has to be easily readable by old people.There are many voice recognition applications on smartphone, like the Siri in iPhone and S Voice in Samsung phone. They are both very complex systems. So they will require internet access to be able to use. And they do not have the function like this design so far. This application will work totally locally, and it is compatible with most of the smartphones on the market. This Android application helps people who have dysaudia or amnesia to lock their car. It is a small application. This project will only develop the functional portion of the application. Before pushing it to public, more works on user interface and compatibility of various smart phone will be needed.
Antecedents of Job Satisfaction among Intimate Partner Violence Shelter Staff: Coworker Relational Maintenance Strategies, Communication Satisfaction, Burnout and Organizational Commitment
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Maniloff, Jamie; Park, Daniel Youngjoon; Laorujiralai, Kamolchanok; Paholski, Lindsey; Sugumar, Varalakshmi; Yates, Roxanne
This study sought to extend prior research by examining the prevalence of relational maintenance strategies between coworkers and the impact of such strategies on work related attitude of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, communication satisfaction, and burnout with work. The targeted samples for this research were the employees of a battered women’s shelter located in Indianapolis, Indiana. A questionnaire was constructed that included established scales in order to measure independent and dependent variables. The questionnaires were distributed among the employees and 47.82% agreed to participate in this study. Regression analyses were conducted to analyze the collected data. The findings indicated the importance of assurances and conflict management among staffs in mitigating their job stresses and increasing their personal accomplishment, communication satisfaction, organizational commitment and job satisfaction.
Aquaponics
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Ayoub, Abdul hadi; Howard, Dylan; Cuevas Dominguez, Victor; Frazier, Rudolph
This document outlines the low level design for an aquaponics system. This system is intended to be fully automated and modular, running without the necessity direct end-user input or technical knowledge. The system was designed by the 2014 MURI Grant Aquaponics Team, directed by Dr. David Goodman, and Mr. Bob Durkin. This aquaponics system consists of an aquaculture tank, used to grow freshwater prawns, a reservoir tank, a de-chlorination tank; three horticultural grow beds used to cultivate greens, and an automation system for water flow, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and PH control. These components are combined together in a modular stand designed for use in a ten foot by ten foot area. The design of this system was broken up into tasks assigned to individual members of Dr. Goodman’s aquaponics team. Each team member was responsible for the research and design of all aspects of his individual task. The end goal of this project is to create a marketable, ‘green living’ indoor garden for use in residential homes and apartments. This aquaponics system will be modular in order to fulfill the needs of the consumer, and automated in order to be used without technical skill or knowledge of the end user.

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