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http://opus.ipfw.edu/sls_images2015/1001/thumbnail.jp

Properties of the nutraceutical capsaicin were assessed in order to determine its effects on several stress bio-markers in teleost fish. Nile tilapia, Orechromis niloticus, were fed a diet supplemented with capsaicin for eight weeks, and crowding stressor was used in order to ascertain capsaicinu27s ability to modulate stress in comparison with control animals. Biomarkers-plasma cortisol, blood glucose, spleen somatic index, packed cell volume, plasma protein, condition factor, and macrophage phagocytic activity were assessed bi-weekly during the experimental period. The results indicated that capsaicin produced no statistically significant differences between fish receiving the capsaicin and those which did not. A cluster based analysis using data mining confirmed the findings that at 0.02% of the diet, capsaicin produced no statistically significant differences

http://opus.ipfw.edu/sasi_images2015/1006/thumbnail.jp

We study global existence and blow up in finite time for a one-dimensional fast diffusion equation with memory boundary condition. The problem arises out of a corresponding model formulated from tumor-induced angiogenesis. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for global existence of solutions to the problem

We clarify the respective role fixed points, diagonalization, and self- reference play in proofs of G ̈odel’s first incompleteness theorem. We first show that the usual fixed-point construction can be reduced to a double diagonalization; this is done to address widely held views such as that fixed-point are “paradoxical” (Priest), or work by “black magic” (Soare), or that their construction is “intuitively unclear” (Kotlarski). We then discuss three notions of self-reference; this can be seen an extension of a recent study by Halbach and Visser and is meant to show that we do not (yet?) have a robust theory that would allow us to establish a firm link between fixed points and self-reference

Out of the 300 genera of freshwater mussels (Family: Unionidae) represented in North America, most species have exhibited declines in abundance and distribution largely due to anthropogenic impacts. We compared community composition, abundance and richness of mussels in Cedar Creek, Indiana in 2015 with those in 1988 and 2005. In 2015, five sites in Cedar Creek and seven sites in agricultural tributaries were surveyed. Additionally, one headwater stream in Hillsdale County, Michigan was surveyed as a high-quality reference site. At each 200 m long site, mussels were sampled with quadrats (sixteen per site) and visual searches. From each quadrat, a quart of sediment was retained for sediment analysis. Physicochemical measurements, habitat analyses, and water quality data were collected concurrently with surveys. Fishes were sampled using electrofishing to document the presence of fish host species. Out of thirteen sites sampled in 2015, only six had live mussels. Ten species and 84 individuals were identified and measured from these six sites. The reference and two Cedar Creek sites comprised almost 90% of the individuals found, with the furthest upstream Cedar Creek site having the greatest abundance (28). Only two agricultural drainage ditch sites that were located close to the main stem of Cedar Creek had mussels and only six individuals were found. Lampsilis siliquoidea occurred found at four sites in 2015 and was the most abundant and widespread species comprising 31% of the individuals found. The abundance of live mussels within four Cedar Creek main stem sites exhibited a progressive decline from 168 individuals in 1998 to 110 in 2005 to 56 in 2015. Additionally, since 1988, no live mussels have been recorded in Cedar Creek between Waterloo and Auburn, Indiana. To assess possible causes of declines, we will evaluate the relationships of instream habitat, physicochemical, and water chemistry variables with mussel abundance and species richness. A previous study in Cedar Creek found evidence of a lack of recruitment in L. siliquoidea populations. Therefore, declines in adult mussels may have resulted from the effects of deteriorating water and habitat quality on survival of larval and juvenile stages in Cedar Creek.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1023/thumbnail.jp

My research focuses on the Waldere fragments, and their place within the broader scope of Old English literature. The Waldere fragments are an under-studied and under-represented piece of literature within the corpus of medieval English texts, despite their significance as one of the only pieces of secular poetry alongside the more well-known Beowulf. My research project analyzes and contextualizes the content of the fragments within the corpus of Old English secular poetry, and Old English literature as a whole. Through careful examination of digital facsimiles of the fragments provided on the website of the National Library of Denmark and Copenhagen University Library, I examined the content of the piece and analyzed its position within the larger body of work outside of Old English concerned with the legend of Walter of Aquitaine, the central figure of the fragments. These fragments, which were incorporated into the binding of an Elizabethan prayer book sometime in the 16th century, are further indication of the warrior culture of the Anglo-Saxons, as well as proof of the popularity of legends like that of Walter. I also argue that the fragments’ fate, that of being used as binding for a religious tome, also displays the shift that occurred within the culture of the British Isles between the creation of the manuscript sometime around the year 1000 C.E. and its destruction for alternate use sometime in the 16th century. The shift from a culture connected deeply to its roots in warrior culture, while simultaneously devoutly Christian, to one of less violent piety, is apparent through the fate of such artifacts like Waldere. The study of manuscripts such as this is one of the few ways in which we can learn more about the multi-faceted culture of the earliest speakers of English.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1008/thumbnail.jp

http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1006/thumbnail.jp

When attempting to conduct research on a given subject, finding relevant sources can prove a notable challenge. Current tools, such as online journal databases using keyword-based search, are often lacking, and provide you with a plethora of trivial, only tangentially related papers. Further, these searches also make it difficult to find papers that cross into different domains. The lack of efficiency from existing search engines may be caused by not properly utilizing the document contents and instead just heavily relying on generally superficial metadata, such as the author name, title and user-generated tags. The main goal of our study is the development of a web-based application to enhance users’ search activities with the assistance of visualization and more effective utilization of document content. We aim to both make finding the highest quality source in a set of documents easier and refining searches to be more targeted to a specific area of interest a trivial task rather than a difficult thought process. This poster presents a two tier visual interface for searching collections of documents. Tier 1 presents the results of a three term search, using color, size and position to show the papers’ attributes with relation to the search. Tier 2 is designed to not only show the contents of the documents, but to aid in search term refinement for the first tier. This is accomplished by showing related terms, related compound terms, and synonyms. Related terms are terms that appear in the same sentence as a given search term, while compound terms are created by search terms and their neighbors in text. Both tiers work on an index of research papers scraped from Google Research. The index is constructed using Lucene, a popular, open source search package. The system has two major contributions. First, this research is one of the first studies to focus on visual analytics on unstructured content. Prior work has focused on either metadata or the content of structured documents such as books. Second, the visualization is focused on representing a large amount of information in a way that leverages user cognition and relieves mental overload. Refining the system’s algorithms and interface are ongoing tasks. Usability testing is planned to evaluate system effectiveness, specifically in achieving the project goals. Following the usability testing, we intend to integrate more data in the visualization. For example, document metadata such as conference quality and year are likely to be given visual elements, in order to provide a more fully featured searching interface. Scoring algorithms and term score cutoffs will also be adjusted to guarantee user satisfaction.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1025/thumbnail.jp

The purpose of this study is to understand university students’ lives and find out campus issues that they encounter and experience through the examination of anonymous words and comments written on the glass windows of a campus office at a Midwestern university. The Office of Student Success (OSS) posts a new topic/question on the glass windows every week in front of their office for students to anonymously express, free from the restraints of social and cultural norms, their thoughts and ideas. At request of the OSS director, this study was undertaken to analyze anonymous responses on the glass windows in order to glean insight from them, shed light on campus issues, and possibly enable a proactive approach to student needs. To operationalize our research, we first reviewed graffiti studies. Graffiti is defined as a pictorial or visual inscription on a publically accessible surface, and it can be a personal and free form of communication absent of common social restraints which would usually prevent individuals from conveying their thoughts (Abel u26 Buckley, 1977; Gross u26 Gross, 1993; Hanaeuer, 2011). Drawing on Sad and Kutlu’s (2009) categorization, we analyzed a total of 1336 responses in order to identify patterns and themes

This study sought to find if conservative IPFW students or students who are parents will be more likely to support the censorship of violent media (video games, movies, music, etc.) than liberal or moderate students or students who do not have children. Data was gathered from 534 students during the fall semester of 2015 by administering a survey on political beliefs regarding social issues (gay marriage, abortion rights, equal pay, etc.), whether or not the respondent was a parent, whether or not the respondent was religious, and the respondent’s gender. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicate that more religious respondents and females are significantly more likely to support censoring violent media, while political affiliation and parental status were not statistically significant predictors of attitudes regarding censorship.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2016/1031/thumbnail.jp

In India, practices relating to pregnancy, childbirth and child development have been rooted in cultural beliefs and traditions that are based on knowledge contained in ancient Indian texts. Many Indians residing across the globe continue to observe these practices. Some may find it challenging to do so when they are residing abroad, away from familiar surroundings and separated from their extended families. A small body of research exists that shows that migrant Indian women do observe traditional maternal practices based on cultural beliefs, but there is a need to learn more about how this knowledge is acquired, disseminated and preserved. This qualitative case study examines how immigrant women from India in the United States (US) acquire knowledge about and observe traditional maternal practices. Interviews and participant observation indicate that the women in this study adroitly mixed many traditional practices with the medical model of care provided in the US, and importantly, most of them followed these practices more as a deference to the norms laid out by their elders. The goal of traditional practices appeared to be to ensure birth of healthy infants

The paper presents a continuation of the research with St. Francis Hospital ER. It is a follow-up to the Collective System Design to develop the NowER in 2012. Several principles affecting tone that are sustaining the St. Francis ER system design will be discussed. The new system design resulted in a patient satisfaction increase from 13th percentile to better than 65th percentile, nationwide. The tone of the redesign team not only made the new system design possible, it is the reason why the new NowER system is being improved and sustained

The UniCone direct piezocone method by Eslami and Fellenius (1997) for evaluating the axial capacity of pile foundations is reviewed and improved means of evaluating the soil resistance factors are recommended. This method uses all three piezocone penetration test (CPTu) readings in a soil behavioral type (SBT) classification chart and provides estimations of axial pile capacity for a wide variety of pile types installed in different assortments of geomaterials. In this paper, the earlier method is improved using a dataset of 153 pile load tests and CPTu soundings from 52 worldwide sites. An alternative soil classification system using the CPT material index Ic is used to provide improved correlations of higher reliability via continuous functions for estimating the side and base capacity components of driven and jacked piles, and drilled shafts. An analysis is also included to test the performance of the newly proposed design formulations. Finally, a simplified flowchart is presented for convenient application of the enhanced expressions

This review addressed the fundamental principles, advantages and challenges of forward osmosis (FO) membrane processes. FO is receiving more and more research attractions because it can concurrently produce clean water with low energy input and generate hydraulic energy (pressure retarded osmosis). FO typically requires zero or low hydraulic driving pressure, therefore the fouling potential of the FO membranes is much lower than conventional pressure-driven membrane processes. However, concentration polarization (CP), especially the internal CP significantly reduces the effective osmotic pressure across the FO membrane, the major driving force for the filtration process. As a result, innovative FO membrane materials like electrospun nanofibers have been explored to make low tortuosity, high porosity, and thin FO membranes with a high rejection rate of solutes and low or zero diffusion of the draw solute. The orientation of the FO membrane with active layer-facing-feed solution has less fouling than active layer-facing-draw solution. In addition, to further decrease the fouling potential, a hydrophilic and more negatively charged membrane is preferred when filtration of natural organic matter (NOM) or alginate in the absence of multivalent cations

In this study, we examined the links between Internet addiction, engagement in online erotica (including pornography usage and usage of sex-based Internet chat sites), and engagement in risky online sexual behaviors, in this case, sending sexually-explicit pictures to those known only online (i.e., sexting) and expecting to engage in offline sex with those known only online. In our sample of 276 U.S. adults, men engaged in most of these online sexual activities significantly more than women, but women were just as likely as men to send sexually-explicit pictures to online chat partners, and they were also just as likely as men to demonstrate signs of internet addiction. More importantly, using pornography and sex site usage were sequential mediators in the relationship between Internet addiction and engagement in risky online sexual activities. Moreover, whereas pornography viewing alone was not a predictor of risky online sexual activities, when the behavior escalated to engaging in Internet sex chat sites it did predict engagement in sexting or expectations of offline sex with those known only online. Based on these findings, we suggest that although these behaviors might be considered under one umbrella of online sexual activity, it might be useful from an intervention and treatment standpoint to target specific online sexual activities (e.g., sex site usage)

Exploration of a novel environment involves the establishment of a u22home baseu22 which serves as a reference point for movements. Home base establishment and exploratory movements were disrupted in otoconia-deficient mice in darkness, but not in light. Otolith signals thus contribute to the organization of exploratory movements in non-visual environments

Ebenezer Scrooge is a prosperous curmudgeon who believes personal wealth is far more valuable than the happiness and comfort of others. With an infuriated u22Bah! Humbug!u22 Scrooge expresses his feelings on Christmas tidings and charity, but heu27s soon forced to face his selfish ways. On Christmas Eve three ghosts lead him through his Past, Present and Future. Thanks to their guidance, Scrooge recognizes his faults and greets Christmas morning with a cheerful u22Happy Christmas!u22 before spending the day reconnecting and sharing love with those that mean the most to him.Scrooge and his ghostly encounters come to life in this lavish and thrilling Broadway adaptation. Broadway heavy hitters Alan Menken (Disneyu27s Beauty And The Beast, Disneyu27s The Little Mermaid, Little Shop Of Horrors) and Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime, Seussical, Once On This Island) breathe fantastic new life into this classic tale

This presentation will give a brief overview of the profession of Music Therapy and will describe how music is beneficial in healing. Requirements to becoming a board-certified music therapist will be discussed and where music therapists work will be examined. Participants will be invited to participate in music experiences

We examined how conformity pressures influence judgments of moral dilemmas using an Asch-like paradigm with two accomplices. We found significant conformity effects in response to ambiguous and unambiguous moral dilemmas. These effects were moderated by confidence in personal judgments and perceived difficulty of the dilemmas

Early Italian music played on period instruments

What does the contemporary craft of character design (by human authors), which is beyond the reach of foreseeable AI, and which isnu27t powered by any stunning, speculative, AI-infused technology (immersive or otherwise), but is instead aided by tried-and-true “AI-less” software tools and immemorial techniques that are still routinely taught today, imply with respect to todayu27s computational cognitive architectures? This chapter narrows the scope of this large question, and argues that at present, perhaps only the cognitive architecture CLARION can represent and reason over knowledge at a level of logical expressivity sufficient to capture such characters, along with the robust modeling implied by contemporary story and character design