Undergraduate Research Day Projects
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Organized by the University of Houston Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards, Undergraduate Research Day is an annual event showcasing exceptional scholarship undertaken by the UH undergraduate community.
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Browsing Undergraduate Research Day Projects by Title
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Item 1771, A Literary History: Genre, Origin, and Authorship(2023-04-13) Haddad, Tatiana; Knappenberger, James; Gurule, AlexandraThe 1771 Project sought to create a literary history confined to a single year and to three cities through creating an organized database of the wide range of literature circulating at that time. The unique approach of this project is its presentation and analysis of these assorted literatures as a focused representation of the literary, philosophical, and political genres and themes present in the literary scene at the time, in addition to its usefulness in attempting to reconstruct a semblance of daily life in the year 1771. Genre becomes the intangible webbing between the social, temporal, and geographic contexts of writings, as it becomes invaluable in the grouping and analysis of specific texts. By creating separate 'genre systems' and approximating the print environments of London, Edinburgh, and Philadelphia through these genre groupings, this project has connected the social and cultural narratives of 1771 to the variations in genre present in that year. Through this novel approach to digital histories and focus on genre contexts, the 1771 Project has produced a snapshot of the print environment of 1771 and the associated demographics behind its creation.Item 18-Month Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) Data Correlating with Daily Tasks: Findings in Alpha-band Frequencies(2019) Alarcon, Christian Bernard; Bellman, Devon E.Current neuroscience studies have failed to capture the progressive, long-term nature of the creative process, limiting the intricate system into single-session controlled experiments. Through the advancement of MoBI technology, we utilized context-aware documentation to monitor and record EEG data from a multimedia installation artist as she undergoes the creative process. This dataset propels brain-computer interfaces closer to real-world applications by answering the question: can EEG data from natural settings be analyzed using MoBI technology? In this 18-month longitudinal study, using a dry-electrode wireless headset a home-security camera, and a personal journaling phone app, EEG data is collected from real-world settings -- the comfort of an artist's home as she creates an art installation. Then, the data was separated by task-specific labels based off video and journal annotations. EEG and video were simultaneously recorded, resulting in over 400 hours of data. To determine the validity of the datasets, we have explored EEG findings in the alpha-band region (8-12 Hz). After scalp mapping the average EEG of the tasks, we notice a difference in alpha power from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to the parietal region. Also, when comparing alpha power through potential baseline activities, a shift toward the parietal regions is also evident. We are working to open-source the multimodal dataset to allow others to verify findings and discover potential uses. We hope for the public EEG data to help create advances in merging brain-machine interfaces closer to the real world as wireless, wearable, non-invasive systems. This project was completed with contributions from Jesus G. Cruz-Garza from Corner University.Item 1917- 1918 Influenza Epidemic Project(2022-04-14) Lopez-Herrera, CarolinaThe 1917-1918 Influenza Epidemic was one of most deadly infections, killing approximately 50 million people. The Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage program has collected, preserved, and digitized Hispanic newspapers from that era, which allows us to gain a better understanding of life during the 1917-1918 epidemic. During the 1917-1918 influenza epidemic, many media outlets and documents were heavily censored because countries involved in World War I, including the United States, did not want to decrease public morale toward the war effort. The only country that allowed for mass publication and reporting on the subject was Spain, one of the few countries that remained neutral during the war. Since it was the only country reporting on the illness, media across the world coined the derogatory term, “Spanish Flu.” This heavy censorship resulted in little documentation of the illness, the spread, or precautions taken, severely limiting public knowledge of the influenza. Furthermore, the information published was broad, scarce, and undermined the severity of the epidemic. Most of these publications did not take into consideration how flu affected different communities, especially People of Color. Because US Hispanic publications were written in Spanish, they did not experience the same level of censorship.Item 3D Printed Limb Prosthesis(2022-04-14) Edquilang, DavidResearch and development of a 3D printed prosthetic arm which seeks to tackle the issues of high cost and discomfort associated with professionally-made prosthetics.Item 3D Printing Soft Electronics(2018-10-18) Hunter, BriannaThe University of Houston received NSF funding to hold an REU researching Neurotechnologies to help the body move, heal, and feel again. Of specific importance is developing brain machine interfaces that optimize both safety and functionality. The devices that maximize functionality are devices that are implanted directly on the brain, but this is dangerous, and human tests are still distant in the future. In order to create safe devices that are able to be placed directly on the surface of organs, such as the brain and heart, soft electronics, which have similar mechanical properties as soft organs. The problem lies in mass producing these soft electronics. Our solution to this fabrication issue lies in directly 3D printing these electronics onto flexible substrates.Item A Black Death: Can Relic Oysters Be Used in Restoration Efforts?(2018-10-18) Sanchez-Ruffra, RachelThe eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, plays an important role in estuarine ecosystems, but populations have been decimated compared to historic levels. Large storm events, including hurricanes, periodically eliminate populations through freshwater input and sediment deposition, leading to death and entombment of shell in sediments. Buried within anoxic sediments, shells turn “black”, and with limited shell for restoration, resource managers have dredged this alternative substrate for larval settlement. Value for “black” shell to facilitate larval recruitment is unknown and this study examined the effectiveness of “black” sun cured shell, freshly removed “black” oyster shell, and normal restoration shell, taking into account background oyster population demographics. Oyster recruitment was significantly greater on sun cured black shell, algal growth on shells was ubiquitous among treatments, and larval recruitment was extremely limited. No significant difference was found from recorded oyster population characteristics, as they were similar to levels after initial construction. This suggests sun cured black shell can be utilized for restoration efforts, but immediate dredging efforts may be impractical. Further, the impact from large storms, such as Hurricane Harvey, can impact settlement substrate and larval supply, thus, resource managers should consider both factors when implementing future restoration efforts.Item A Comparison of Self Reported Physical Activity and ActiGraph Recorded Physical Activity Amongst Young Adults(2017-10-12) Love, Avery N.; Dolan, Chad T.Introduction. A quick, inexpensive, and noninvasive method to assess the physical activity (PA) level of an individual is to use a questionnaire in which a subject recalls their usual weekly activity. The information from the questionnaire can then be compared to healthy guidelines and the PA level of the subject can be determined. Although efficient, questionnaires are highly subjective and their accuracy can vary. Discussion. It was hypothesized that young adults would underestimate their physical activity, but these subjects were not able to accurately report their PA. This outcome could be due to the level of specificity of the CHAMPS questionnaire. Questions should be more targeted and inquire about all possible activities the subjects might overlook. The majority (3 out of 4) physically inactive subjects were not able to correctly classify their PA level.Item A computational investigation of folding free energy surfaces and structural characterization of Staphylococcal Protein A(2023-04-13) Nguyen, Minh NgocInvasive plants disrupt native ecosystems and decrease native plant diversity. Under strong selection pressure, native plants sometimes adapt to better compete with an invasive species. My research investigates two variants of the annual forb Coreopsis that co-occur with the invasive forb Verbena brasiliensis. The objective of my research is to answer three questions: (1) Is an observed phenotypic variant Coreopsis more competitive than the wild type C. tinctoria? (2) If so, what traits potentially make it more competitive?, (3) Is it an adapted variety of C. tinctoria or a related species? Whether or not it is a separate species, the existence of a more competitive variant may provide an effective replacement for the wild-type C. tinctoria in native restoration projects within the range of V. brasiliensis. Results suggest that the invasive V. brasiliensis does not significantly suppress the biomass of the phenotypic variant C. tinctoria as much as that of the wild-type C. tinctoria. Furthermore, the variant produces significantly more flowers than the wild type suggesting it would be more competitive with the invasive plant than the wild type. The stark difference in growth habits between the two varieties of C. tinctoria suggests the variant may be a closely related species that converge in appearance at maturity.Item A Culturally-Tailored Smoking Cessation Intervention for Latinos(2018-10-18) Absar, Eden; Srivastava, Prakriti; Wang, AitongLeading causes of death among Latinos in the U.S include cancer (of which, lung cancer is the most frequent cause of cancer death), heart disease, unintentional injuries, and stroke. Three of these four causes have a relationship with smoking. Compared to other ethnic and racial groups, Latinos face low smoking cessation treatment success rates due to low compliance with pharmacotherapy, restricted accessibility to health care, poor smoking cessation treatment outcomes, under-utilization of existing services. Despite making up nearly 20% of the U.S population, few studies have explored smoking cessation interventions among Latino smokers. This study piloted a Culturally Tailored (CT), a CT plus Adherence Enhancing (AE), and a Health Education (HE) intervention for smoking cessation among Latino adults in the Greater Houston area. These treatment conditions were randomized. High levels of counseling session return and retention rates indicated a success of intervention methods. Satisfaction survey results further confirmed the likability of these trials. Additionally, those assigned to the CT+AE group had significantly greater nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) means, suggesting the targeted adherence and cultural sensitivity strategies improved levels of nicotine patch use.Item A Data-driven, Graphical Approach to Dismantling Illicit & Counterfeit Medicine Markets (ICMs)(2022-04-14) Csicsery-Ronay, JenniferIn the light of the global coronavirus pandemic, the rise of the illicit and counterfeit medicines (ICMs) market has impacted drug and medical supplies, bringing to the surface vulnerabilities in supply chain networks and the coordination of controlled responses. The ICM market thrives in an online context that utilizes affiliate marketing to target vulnerable communities. Currently, there is a lack of tools for aggregating and analyzing network intelligence and limited research on explainable clustering methods relating to ICMs. By creating a multifaceted strategy to develop new solutions and improve upon those currently in place, this work looks to advance the field of machine learning and network science from a distributed machine learning approach. Unearthing illicit supply activity requires the development of distributed data mining methods to detect anomalies and inference of coordination and intent. Developing a centralized data lake and subsequent simulations of the data to address the constraints will be the first work to produce a detailed catalog and proposal of how to set up a fully distributed machine learning solution for various industries. The tragic effects of ICMs are a global phenomenon, with the pandemic exacerbating the impact of the problem due to supply chain disruptions and a lack of quality control. Beyond the apparent public health impact, socially disadvantaged, and undeserved communities are more likely to suffer from the negative impact of counterfeit and poor-quality drugs. A cohesive and just society must protect its most vulnerable and this work promises to contribute to that protection.Item A Deep Learning Approach for Screening Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods(2022-04-14) Pakula, JacobWith the increasing demand to meet the world’s energy needs and the high costs associated with Enhanced Oil Recovery projects, E&P companies are turning to machine learning to cut operating expenditures and development costs while optimizing hydrocarbon production. This research project aims to evaluate the ability of using neural networks, a subfield of machine learning, to screen for and select the most promising EOR technique among the available ones based on past successful EOR projects. A multilayer-perception neural network (MLP) with backpropagation was built and then trained with over 100 past EOR projects in order to screen for the best EOR technique. To optimize the model accuracy, we tested various parameters of the neural network to find the best model architecture: number of hidden layers, total number of neurons, activation function, and number of training epochs. After testing each of those sections, we came up with a chart with ranges that optimizes each parameter and yields the best model architecture for the neural network. Although this research project lays the foundations of incorporating deep learning into EOR projects and creates a robust model, more data gathering with an increasing number of input features (wettability, reservoir heterogeneity, injected fluid parameters) can lead to a more complex model with greater accuracy.Item A General Approach to Kinase Inhibitors(2023-04-13) Nguyen, TheresaThe biomolecular pair, composed of either two proteins or two nucleic acids, forms noncovalent bonds. In previous studies regarding such pairs, optical tweezers or atomic force microscopy were used; however, such force based techniques have proven to be inconsistent and time consuming. In a study by De Silva, Yao and Xu, force-induced remnant magnetization spectroscopy (FIRMS) was found to be a more efficient technique through its use of acoustic radiation force (ARF) (2014). This study sought to explore the applicability of this technique and quantify the effects of ARF on thee dissociation of noncovalent pairs ï¾— in this instance, DNA ï¾— duplexes, with respect to time and degree of voltage. Such DNA duplexes were prepared over the period of 24 hours and placed directly beneath a piezo disk which generated the ARF. Quantification of the duplexes was achieved through the use of ImageJ, an image-based processing program, and contrasted with images analyzed using atomic magnetometry. The initial hypothesis was that the number of duplexes broken by ARF would remain constant until it eventually plateaued around 90 seconds at 100 and 200 mv. This study adds to the current literature of both fundamental biomolecular research and practical applications due to the noncovalent bonds being the most prevalent intermolecular bonds in biochemistry.Item A long-acting Betaarrestin “biased” agonist to selectively activate AT1R to confer cardioprotection during heart failure and COVID-19 cardiovascular complications(2022-04-14) Medina, BryanIn patients with Heart Failure (HF) and COVID-19 induced HF, the principal hallmark is a depressed cardiac ejection fraction. Cardiac contractility is mediated through G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCR). A critical cardiac GPCR that mediates cardiac contractility is the Angiotensin Type 1 Receptor (AT1R). In the cardiovascular system, homeostasis is maintained by the Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System (RAAS). An overactivation of the RAAS triggers an increase of Angiotensin II (AngII) and overactivation of AT1R, resulting in vasoconstriction, sodium retention and altered myocyte growth. These factors cause cardiac remodeling (ventricular hypertrophy and dilation) which overall leads to HF. Advancements in drug discovery are leading towards long-acting beta arrestin biased agonist that can simultaneously block AngII - mediated hypertension via AT1R-G alpha q-protein and activate cardioprotective AT1R-Betaarrestin. Activation of AT1R-beta arrestin will provide better therapeutic outcomes than other currently available non-selective drugs. At least two signaling pathways have been characterized for AT1Rs, G alpha q-protein and beta arrestin2. Signaling through the canonical pathway, AngII binds to AT1Rs to recruit Galphaq which causes cell injury. Alternatively, AngII binds to AT1Rs to recruit beta arrestin2 and induces cell protection. Our work will characterize the pharmacological properties of our synthesized peptide-based drugs for beta arrestin2 biased agonism to AT1Rs. We expect to develop a therapeutic drug that provides greater selectivity to ATR1-beta arrestinmediated signaling to increase cardiac contractility in failing hearts and prevent myocardial infarction in patients with COVID-19.Item A Model to Compare Market Intervention vs. Information to Address Climate Change Using Substitute Goods(2020-09-29) Tran, RyanThere exists potential to reduce U.S. GHG emissions by shifting consumer preferences of beef and plant-based substitutes (PBS) due to the disparity in their global warming potential. Market intervention to create new incentive structures using Pigouvian taxation of externalities and price distortion is one method. The second method is to fund a public information campaign to raise awareness on beef's negative impact on climate change and to advocate consideration of PBS as a similar, but more sustainable option. Effective public policy can be interpreted differently, including consumers' elasticities to each method and net change in global warming potential per cost of implementation. The administration of both methods together is possible, or even ideal, but is not explored due to assumed limited budget. To determine optimal tax and optimal information, a welfare model is used that is inclusive of consumer utility, global warming potential externalities, and government revenue. Utility is maximized with respect to consumer gratification from using the consumption bundle to lower their carbon footprint.Item A More Robust Assessment of Antibiotic Combinations by Dynamic Susceptibility Model(2019) Altman, RachelBackground: Evolving bacterial resistance presents a rising challenge to public health. One mechanism of resistance, the production of drug degrading enzymes, is traditionally treated with a combination of active first line antibiotic and enhancing inhibitor. The conventional testing method currently used to guide treatment with these combinations has deficiencies. Objective: To develop a robust computational tool that will help identify the most effective treatment options. Methods: A clinical strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae expressing CTX-M15 was studied. Piperacillin (an antibiotic) susceptibility testing was performed at varying concentrations of avibactam (an enzyme inhibitor). The susceptibility results were modeled against the changing inhibitor concentrations to produce a dynamic model of susceptibility. Accounting for fluctuating antibiotic concentrations in the body, an integrated metric (% T > MICi) was used to assess the potential effectiveness of various drug combination dosing regimens. Results: Piperacillin susceptibility was well characterized as a function of avibactam (r2 = 98). A range of % T > MICi (from 67.5% to 83.1%) was simulated by the computational model using escalating doses of piperacillin every 8 hours. These simulations will be experimentally validated in a preclinical infection model in the future. Conclusions: Integrating changing drug concentration levels in the body with a dynamic measure of susceptibility will likely provide a more comprehensive picture of how a bacterial infection might respond to a given drug combination. If validated, this computational model in combination with a revised testing method would help doctors to choose the best available treatment for the patient.Item A Multi-ELM Model for Incomplete Data(2022-04-14) Chi, BaichuanOur research involves the creation of a novel model of Extreme Learning Machines (ELMs) for incomplete data. ELMs are fast accurate randomized neural networks that is commonly used in the industry. However, ELM can only be applied on the complete dataset. In reality, it's common to have incomplete values due to human errors, device malfunction or intentional missing. Therefore, a novel Multi-ELM Model for incomplete data is proposed, consisting of multiple secondary ELMs and one primary ELM. The secondary ELMs are approximating the hidden layer output in the primary ELM for the data with missing values. This model can be applied on data with any missing patterns, without using imputations and can outperform the traditional imputation methods such as K Nearest Neighbor (KNN) imputation and Mean Imputation (MI) within a reasonable fraction of missing values (0% to 20%), as it avoids the noises intruded by imputations.Item A native Coreopsis variant competes more strongly against the invasive Verbena brasiliensis(2023-04-13) Nguyen, Minh KhueOrganic light- emitting diodes (OLEDs) are the top-performing technology for flat-panel color displays in smartphones and televisions. Cyclometalated iridium complexes are the most successful class of phosphorescent metal complexes used to produce light in OLEDs. Currently, blue-phosphorescent iridium complexes are the most challenging due to the requirement of the high HOMO-LUMO energy gaps. Strong s-donors are targeted as a supporting ligand for blue-emitting compounds. Acyclic diaminocarbene (ADC) and other strong s-donors ancillary ligands derived from isocyanide precursors are hypothesized to improve the phosphorescence efficiency. Understand the effects of these ancillary ligands on photophysical properties are the key to producing better blue-phosphorescent iridium complexes which are suitable for OLEDs application. Cycolometating ligands are used to control phosphorescence color and fluorinated 2-phenyl pyridine ligands are known to give blue phosphorescence. So fluorinated 2-phenyl pyridine-based cyclometalating ligands are used in this study and paired with different ancillary ligands installed by reactions between azide and isocyanides. Aryl isocyanide ligands with different electronic characteristics (CNAr-dmp, CNAr-NO2, CNAr-OMe, CNtBu) were used to produce different bis-cyclometaled iridium bis-isocyanide complexes. Then the bis-cyclometalated iridium bis-isocyanide complexes react with sodium azide (NaN3) in different solvents (CH2Cl2, CH3CN) at different conditions. This process produces new luminescent structures. These complexes have unique structures but were not obtained by the traditional synthesis route and they have unusual photophysical properties.Item A New Method for Measuring Infant's Multimodal Experiences: Combining Head-Mounted Eye-Tracking and Electroencephalogram (EEG) Techniques(2023-04-13) Ho, Nancy; Perkovich, ElizabethEye-tracking and EEG methods are both widely used methods to understand human behaviors. While eye-tracking studies have provided precise information on the distribution of everyday attention behaviors [1], little is known about the cognitive significance of these behaviors [2]. Though EEG studies offer a glimpse into brain activity, the presence of ocular artifacts has limited the interpretability of relevant neural activities [3]. The combined method allows researchers to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of early attention behaviors and their significance for learning experiences by obtaining increased temporal resolution data. The use of eye-tracking data can provide more precise attention behaviors, such as blinks and gaze shifts, that are associated with brain activity. The use of EEG data can help identify artifacts and noise out of the relevant brain activities. We expect that children’s brain waves will differ when focusing their gaze and maintaining attention on people and objects in the play context. Parent-infant play with six toys for a six-minute play-session with a head-mounted eye-tracker and EEG cap together. Then for data process, we use the Yarbus software to process the parent and child mobile eye-tracking data from the play session. Annotated videos frame-by-frame for child attention on four target regions of interests including objects, parent's hands, child's hand, and parent's face. Finally, we use EEGLAB and MATLAB to process the EEG data. The present study is still in its pilot phase and focuses on characterizing changes in brain activity associated with maintaining meaningful attention.Item A Novel Method for the Assessment of Precision Force Control in Children(2022-04-14) Ajoy, AnagaDexterity testing in children is necessary to identify developmental pathology and potentially guide treatments for a younger population, as we treat many congenital hand differences early in life. Current tests focus on time-based measures of dexterity. However, dexterity also depends on how well the forces exerted on an object (i.e. a toy) are controlled. Therefore, the current clinical tests are not sensitive to assessing the dexterity changes that occur because of development pathology or after an intervention. A test that uses both time-based measures alongside measurement of finger forces can more accurately assess pediatric dexterity. To meet this challenge, we developed a novel device to comprehensively assess the dexterity function by the total force exerted on the object in addition to trial duration. We aim to assess the interrater reliability of the device. We recruited 9 typically developing children aged 4-15 years who performed a task under 3 difficulty levels (low, medium, high) on the novel device. Two independent raters then analyzed the data, and a third researcher calculated intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). We found that the ICC (2,1) between the 2 raters (absolute agreement) was between 0.97 and 0.99 for all difficulty levels for the trial duration measure. For the total force measure, we found that the ICC (2,1) between the 2 raters was between 0.98 and 0.99. Our findings suggest that there is high interrater reliability for our new device concerning precision force control.Item A Novel Synthesis of Functionalized Oxazolidine-2,4-diones(2017-10-12) Duddupudi, Anantha; Vo, HienOxazolidinedione analogs have been found to be potent and selective Mineralocorticoid Receptor (MR) antagonists. The natural endogenous hormone Aldosterone activates MR leading to chronic kidney disease, hypertension and congestive heart failure via electrolyte imbalance.There is a significant need for the synthesis of Oxazolidinediones and related compounds. This motivated us to develop of a method for the synthesis of functionalized Oxazolidinediones that could be used in the preparation of pharmacologically active compounds.