Poster Presentations

Procrastination research relies on undergraduates' self-reports from online surveys. Recent research with insufficient effort responders (IERs) shows that even a small percentage of inattentiveness may have harmful effects on means, structural, and psychometric results of studies. Given shared traits between procrastinators and IERs (e.g., distractibility), it is imperative to study how these two concepts relate.

In this study, we examine (a) the prevalence of IERs in an online survey of procrastination, (b) the differences in means and alpha reliability of a scale of procrastination, (c) whether IERs see themselves as procrastinators, and (d) US and China differences.

Undergraduates from the Midwestern US (n = 810) and Guangdong region of China (n = 570) responded to a survey that included the Irrational Procrastination Scale (IPS;’ Steele, 2010). The survey also included three directed-response items and a self-reported diligence measure (0 = minimal effort; 3 = very diligently) in addition to average time per question and instances of straight lining provided by SurveyGizmo.

164 participants were identified as IERs (US = 86, 10.6%; China = 78, 13.5%). The IER group straight lined significantly more in both countries. The means on IPS were similar, but alpha reliabilities were significantly lower for the IER group in both countries. The IERs also had a lower GPA (significant in U.S.) but identified less as procrastinators (significant in U.S.) suggesting strategic carelessness from self-identified non-procrastinators.

References

Steel, P. (2010). Arousal, avoidant and decisional procrastinators: Do they exist? Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 926–934. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.02.025

Ensuring the health, production, and management of crops has been one of the challenging issues due to ongoing climate change and the continuous rise in the population. In an article by the national geographic magazine, it has been estimated that by 2050, the world’s population will reach approximately 9 billion, which will lead to an increase of food demand by 70% and less arable land will be available for agricultural practices. The proposed prototype could help in crop management using an agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV can also help to map the land, sense the sounding environment, adjust harvesting time, and ensure optimal growth of crops. It can also allow for farm predator analysis to determine how the crop is being attacked by larger animals. Sensors like location-based sensors (GPS, ultrasonic), barometric, temperature, humidity sensors, and optical sensors (RGB, NIR) would be used to fulfill these tasks. The cost-efficient agricultural UAV will make farmers save labor costs and increase productivity.

Invasive, pathogenic fungi pose a significant health challenge, especially among those with weakened immunity. As fungal resistance develops to conventional therapies, new compounds are being sought to act as fungicides. Hydroxamates coordinated to ruthenium have been investigated as antimicrobial and anticancer agents. A novel ruthenium-based hydroxamate produced by the Warhausen group of SVSU was evaluated against S. cerevisiae. The ligated complex showed no inhibition of growth whereas the free hydroxamate inhibited growth.

Writing generally involves three interleaved processes: planning, text generation, and revision (Hayes & Flower, 1987). Many college-level writers find revision particularly challenging, although it is essential to high quality writing (Butterfield, et al., 1996). The purpose of this project is to examine the development of college students’ revision processes in depth.

The participants were 29 students at a regional, comprehensive university. Sixteen were beginning writers (having no more than one college-level writing class), and thirteen were advanced writers (either seniors or employed as writing tutors). Each completed three sessions in which they planned a persuasive essay on a given topic, wrote the essay, and revised the essay. They were instructed to do all of their writing on a computer and think aloud while they were writing. The students’ verbalizations and actions on the screen were recorded. These think aloud protocols were transcribed verbatim. Before writing, the participants filled out a survey regarding their attitudes about writing and their general writing practices. After writing, the participants answered several questions about the processes they used to write within this study.

Our preliminary results indicate that college writers tend to make more revisions involving mechanics (i.e., grammar, punctuation, wording changes) than revisions involving meaning. These results were expected given past research (Adams, et al., 2010), and this trend was stronger for beginning writers than advanced writers.

We are now conducting analyses to “dig deeper” into when and how students revise their writing. Two raters have coded the participants’ think aloud protocols using categories such as reading the draft, verbalizations about content, and verbalizations about strategies. Advanced writers made more revisions overall and more comments while thinking aloud about these revisions. Particularly, advanced writers made more comments about specific revision strategies than beginning writers did. With few exceptions, the revisions students made and the way they thought aloud about these revisions were not correlated with their survey and interview answers. Thus, there is a discrepancy between their perceived writing practices and the actual revisions they made. We are currently conducting analyses to find out which revision practices predict the quality of the participants’ essays.

This multi-method approach will provide insight into the development of students’ cognitive processes while revising and, therefore, a better understanding of how best to support students in this challenging task.

Background: Testing an individual’s one-repetition maximum (1RM) allows exercise professionals to determine maximal strength for a given muscle group(s). The current literature includes many studies that test 1RM via free-weight or machine-based movements. However, there is a paucity of literature examining 1RM via landmine exercises, including the landmine row (LR). Someone performing the LR pulls the free end of the barbell toward their torso, with the opposite end on the ground. Because the LR follows a curvilinear path, the user encounters a variable resistance pattern throughout the movement. Consequently, the actual load the user encounters must be determined using a load quantification procedure that allows for direct comparison between LR 1RM and free-weight row 1RM. Objective: To determine whether the LR 1RM assessment meets criteria for a reliable strength test. Methods: Thirty individuals will be recruited to participate in three testing sessions: (1) LR familiarization and free-weight row 1RM and (2) 1RM LR testing sessions. During LR 1RM testing, the angle of the barbell will be measured at the top and bottom positions via a phone goniometry application. Data will be analyzed via intraclass correlation coefficients (2,1), coefficient of variation, paired t-test with effect size, and standard error of measurement. Discussion: The results of this study will inform a recommendation on whether 1RM assessments are reliable for LR exercises. If 1RM assessments are determined to be reliable for the LR, practitioners can prescribe exercise using a percentage of 1RM. Furthermore, future researchers can investigate other landmine exercises for 1RM reliability.

Antibiotic resistance poses a continuing threat to global health as pathogenic bacteria adopt defenses against conventional b-lactam based therapies, often by the expression of b-lactamase enzymes. Large molecule drugs such as obafluorin, oxazolomycin, and curromycin feature the β-lactone functional group and have been successfully employed as antibiotics but are challenging to synthesize or isolate from natural sources.

Synthesized easily from a ketene heterodimer, a novel, small molecule b-lactone, (3S,4Z)-4-[1-(4-chlorophenyl)ethylidene]-3-methyloxetan-2-one) shows antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive M. luteus, Gram-negative E. coli K-12, as well as the fungi S. cerevisiae and C. albicans in disk diffusion assays. Binding affinity of the compound to calf thymus DNA and bovine serum albumin were investigated to characterize interactions with biomolecules.

The broad-spectrum, intermediate intensity of action of the easily synthesized small molecule support further investigation toward identifying a mechanism of action and consideration of incorporating the b-lactone moiety into future antimicrobial agents.

Pathogenic fungi continue to develop resistance to fungicidal/fungistatic compounds and pose a significant risk to immune compromised patients. Traditional fungicides are based on azole functional groups or complex polyenes and echinocandins all of which have encountered some resistance resulting in a shortage of new, effective treatments. While occurring in some known fungicidal agents, the b-lactone group has not been prominent.

Synthesized easily from a ketene heterodimer, a novel, small molecule b-lactone, (3S,4Z)-4-[1-(4-chlorophenyl)ethylidene]-3-methyloxetan-2-one) shows antifungal activity against S. cerevisiae and C. albicans as well as antibacterial activity against Gram-positive M. luteus and Gram-negative E. coli K-12 in disk diffusion tests. The mechanism of action remains unknown, but it is proposed that the compound may act against the cell wall based on a sorbitol assay.

The broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties of this compound suggest that the b-lactone functional group is worth further consideration as a focal point in the development of new therapeutics.

Background:  Estimation of repetitions-to-failure is a subjective report of how many repetitions the exerciser feels they can perform during a resistance training exercise, which is valuable for informing flexible training programs.  When close to failure, exercisers using machines can accurately estimate their repetitions-to-failure, while it is unknown if exercisers using less constrained conditions can.

Objective: Our aim is to report the validity and reliability of estimating repetitions to failure for a rowing exercise. 

Methods: Thirty healthy, recreationally trained, 18–45-year-old SVSU students, will be recruited for a repeated measures study. Participants will familiarize themselves with the Landmine T-Bar Row during the first meeting. On two accounts, they will complete two exercise sets with the landmine T-bar row. Sufficient weight will be loaded (and remain consistent), and the participant will perform adequate repetitions to bring them to failure each set. The participant will pause after each repetition and will be asked “How many repetitions do you have left?” Data will be recorded and analyzed via calculation of actual error, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC: 2,1), and coefficient of variation for each repetition leading up to failure.  

Discussion: Since our study will assess validity and reliability of estimation of repetitions to failure across the entire set of exercise, the findings will assist practitioners to identify the usefulness of these scales in practice at varying proximities to failure.

Type II diabetes mellitus is a significant health problem worldwide that is largely characterized by hyperglycemia, which can lead to a variety of other diseases. Most patients require drug therapy in addition to lifestyle changes to fully manage hyperglycemia. C-glycosides and O-glycosides have been used as alpha-glucosidase inhibitors and sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors to lower blood glucose levels. Our laboratory is examining the synthesis of C-glycosides as potential compounds for treatment of type II diabetes. C-glycosides were chosen as the focus due to their potential as selective SGLT2 inhibitors and their metabolic stability compared to O-glycosides. It is hypothesized that the compounds synthesized could potentially act as both alpha-glucosidase inhibitors and SGLT2 inhibitors. We are currently trying to obtain a specific target glycoside via two synthetic pathways. The first synthetic pathway relies on the Suzuki coupling of a vinyl triflate intermediate to an aromatic group as the key step to produce aryl-C-glycosides. The second builds the aryl-C-glycoside via a silyl enol ether intermediate and completes the synthesis by performing a Wittig reaction on the resulting ketone. Analysis of spectra obtained through Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy is used to ensure that the intended product is formed at each step. This presentation will discuss the synthetic pathways followed to produce the target C-glycoside.

Ensuring the health, production, and management of crops has been one of the challenging issues due to ongoing climate change and the continuous rise in the population. In an article by the national geographic magazine, it has been estimated that by 2050, the world’s population will reach approximately 9 billion, which will lead to an increase of food demand by 70% and less arable land will be available for agricultural practices. The proposed prototype could help in crop management using an agricultural unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV can also help to map the land, sense the sounding environment, adjust harvesting time, and ensure optimal growth of crops. It can also allow for farm predator analysis to determine how the crop is being attacked by larger animals. Sensors like location-based sensors (GPS, ultrasonic), barometric, temperature, humidity sensors, and optical sensors (RGB, NIR) would be used to fulfill these tasks. The cost-efficient agricultural UAV will make farmers save labor costs and increase productivity.

The squat exercise is used in training to strengthen muscles that extend the hips, knees, and ankles. The safety squat bar squat is a variation that uses a unique barbell design, including neck and shoulder padding, handles on the front of the bar, and a cambered, or offset placement of the weight plat]es To describe how the biomechanics features of safety squat bar squats compare to traditional barbell back squats. Specifically, we sought to summarize comparisons of forces, joint movement, and muscle activity to inform recommendations to practitioners regarding exercise- and equipment selection. We conducted searches through four databases: Pubmed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, SPORTDiscus, and CINAHL for relevant studies.Three prior studies reported comparisons between repetition maximum (RM), joint movement, and muscle activity via surface electromyography between the barbell back squat and safety squat bar. We extracted methodology decisions and findings to inform broad comparisons between the squat exercise when performed with the two different barbells. Compared to back squat, the safety squat bar shows lower RM weights and decreased hip-, trunk-, and ankle flexion angles. Muscle activity in the lower body is similar; however, safety squat bar results in higher activity in the lower trapezius and lower activity of the rectus abdominis.The safety squat bar squat may be more appropriate than the traditional barbell squat for athletes with certain limitations, but practitioners should be cautious about exclusive use of the safety squat bar for maximum strength training is desired

Environmental Monitoring Aquatic Drone

Team Members: Mohammad Abbas, Jeffery Bolday, Eric Fischhaber, Morgan Pfau, Garret Ray

Team Advisor: Dr. Rajani Muraleedharan

Abstract

The multitude of clean freshwater bodies in the state of Michigan are some of its defining characteristics. An effort must be made to keep these freshwater sources clean and to protect its habitats. The goal of this project was to make an easily controllable surface-level aquatic drone to help researchers and scientists study freshwater environments, while requiring minimal effort or human disturbance. The data collected includes pH, conductivity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. The drone is capable of real-time testing and reporting of environmental data through 4G-LTE wireless communication between the drone and a user-end application. The data acquired from the drone would prove to be a boon to future scientists or researchers, being an overall benefit to the freshwater body being studied, thus contributing to the preservation of Michigan’s many aquatic ecosystems.

Developmental assets are a set of constructs which appear to help enhance important developmental and health outcomes. The framework includes internal and external characteristics and resources individuals have which together can help promote resilience and increase the likelihood that an individual will overcome adversity. A developmental asset framework was established for youth by the Search Institute in 1990 and since then, the downward extension of the framework to children has been explored. A framework of such for emerging adults in college has only recently become a topic for evaluation. In hopes of providing such a framework for those emerging adults in college, the 120-item College Assets Measurement Profile for Undergraduate Students (CAMPUS) was built in 2012 by Pashak and Scales.

College-enrolled emerging adults face unfamiliar challenges and are likely to experience instability and demographic shifting which can have an effect on their coping skills. These developmental assets in the CAMPUS instrument are cumulatively theorized to serve as a protective factor for college students in the relationship between trauma exposure and posttraumatic anxiety symptoms. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed data gathered in a larger, completed empirical study on emerging adults and resilience using Andrew Hayes’ SPSS macros and found both that the developmental assets were generally negatively correlated with posttrauma symptoms and more specifically that the global assets score served as a buffer. Data from this study leads to the conclusion that global scores on the CAMPUS instrument statistically significantly moderate the correlation between trauma exposure and resulting posttraumatic symptomatology.

With the advancement of technology, the world now relies on electronic systems more than ever before. Thanks to Moore’s law, the size of components in these systems are reducing every year. This has led to smaller and more efficient devices in all fields of science and technology. But even with modern advancements, the most common failure mode of electronic circuits still persists. One of the leading causes of electronic circuit failure is the deterioration of solder or solder paste contact points. This deterioration is most commonly caused by thermal stress due to power cycling and operation of these devices. The chip, as well as, the interconnects can generate heat during operation and can produce large temperature gradient resulting in increased thermal stress, specifically in hotspots. This research aims to study these aforementioned thermal effects on the solder paste contact points in Quilt Packaging and Thru Silicon Via structures via simulation. This simulation demonstrates structural deformation due to dielectric or resistive heating. With the available fatigue parameters for the solders, the reliability of the structure has been studied. The research further extends to study the effects of different solder paste compositions during these thermal cycles and aims to establish a dataset to aid in the selection of correct solder paste composition for any particular use case.

The focus of this research project is to synthesize a series of Ruthenium-Salophen complexes. Once synthesized, these complexes will be characterized using methods which include but are not limited to NMR, IR, and mass spectrometry. Also, cyclic voltammetry (CV), a type of electrochemical technique, will be used to find the oxidation and reduction potentials of the ruthenium complex. Research will be primarily on the coordination mode of the ruthenium-based molecule and its impact on redox behavior.

Gentrification is a phenomenon wherein a poor neighborhood or urban area is transformed into a wealthier area, normally by wealthier people moving into that area. Gentrification sometimes also results in the previous inhabitants being displaced by the new, wealthier people moving in. Saginaw, Michigan, has been experiencing some form of gentrification for decades. This project aims to understand the level of gentrification that Saginaw has undergone in the years of 2008 and 2019, as well as understand where Saginaw falls on the “spectrum” of gentrification.

To understand where Saginaw is in terms of gentrification, we designated several different classes of characteristics that were common to gentrified areas. We then used Google Street Imagery to go block-by-block through Saginaw, giving each street face a “Gentrification Score” based on the characteristics that we defined beforehand. Two different gentrification scores were given to each block, one for imagery from 2008-2012 (earliest available), and one for imagery from 2017-2019 (latest available). After giving each block a gentrification score for both the earliest and latest years available, we determined five different ranges of gentrification scores and used ArcGIS to map out the results. An analysis of the results shows that blocks within Saginaw that had been going through gentrification in the earlier years were normally still going through gentrification in 2017-2019, with a few outlier blocks that had only become more disinvested as time went on.

These results suggest that as a whole, Saginaw is still experiencing a high amount of gentrification, with some areas experiencing it more than others. As time goes on, Saginaw will more than likely continue to experience gentrification in most areas. Some amount of bias in each block score is unavoidable, however, Saginaw is clearly experiencing different levels of gentrification depending on where it is that one is looking.