2022 Symposium for Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

In Pennsylvania, salt is used to treat roads during adverse weather conditions. The resulting runoff has the potential to contaminate waterways and substrates that support plant communities. In recent years, the conservation of plant communities in potentially contaminated roadside ditches has received increased attention. This study will observe impacts of roadside runoff on jewelweed, Impatiens capensis. Research on this topic is relevant and timely as many of these roadsides function as wetlands; wetland ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to degradation while roadsides are well-known corridors for invasive species. By answering how roadside runoff impacts a common wetland species (jewelweed) in these ditches, we can better assess the health of these ecosystems and their resilience to anthropogenic stressors. We will attempt to answer how roadside runoff impacts jewelweed phenology and physiology across various treatments. Jewelweed seeds will be collected from various populations and grown in a common-garden experiment. Seedlings will be raised and then watered with a solution containing contaminants, including road-salts, in a randomized complete block design. This work will result in a better understanding of human impacts on ubiquitous but understudied roadside habitats and their associated plant communities.

Over the last five years, the Bailey Library staff have collected data on every aspect of their interactions with students, including student evaluations of classes run by the librarians, records on research assistance provided to students, and records on online and in-person chats with students seeking assistance. This study consolidates and analyzes those data to elucidate the impact library services are having on the student body. Information on who uses library services and for what purposes will be provided, along with level of student satisfaction for some of those services.

Recent research indicates that social and digital technologies, such as memes, have profound effects on emotion regulation processes (e.g., Wadley et al., 2020) and further indicates that internet memes have the ability to regulate emotion in clinically depressed populations (Akram et al., 2020). Such research largely suggests that by looking at internet memes, people may modify or change their emotional experiences. Unfortunately, missing from this body of literature is an understanding of whether or not viewing memes can influence emotion regulation processes in the general population, and if these effects apply to emotion variables other than depression. To fill this gap, the current study employs an experimental design to understand if memes regulate emotion.  This presentation discusses the results of a 2 (Emotion Type: anxiety, control) x 3 (Meme Type: anxiety, humor, control) between-group experimental design in which the effects of viewing memes on anxiety were examined. 108 people were recruited from Amazon M-Turk. Results revealed an interaction between emotion condition and meme condition that approached significance (F = 2.11, p = .13); those in the anxiety condition experienced the lowest levels of anxiety when they viewed control memes. Those in the control emotion condition experienced the highest levels of anxiety when they viewed control memes. Results will be discussed in light of mechanisms explaining the processes by which viewing memes impact emotion regulation.  References  Akram, U., Drabble, J., Cau, G., Hershaw, F., Rajenthran, A., Lowe, M., ... & Ellis, J. G. (2020). Exploratory study on the role of emotion regulation in perceived valence, humour, and beneficial use of depressive internet memes in depression. Nature, 10(1), 1-8.Wadley, G., Smith, W., Koval, P., & Gross, J. J. (2020). Digital Emotion Regulation. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(4), 412-418.

Melanoma is a serious form of skin cancer due to its ability to rapidly spread to other organs if not treated in the early stages. Like many other types of cancer, there is only palliative treatment for melanoma but no known cure. Primary treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. Cancer treatment targeting mitochondrial dysfunction, when the mitochondria release reactive oxidative species that cause damage and changes to the expression of proteins, is a promising approach. MitoNEET is a newly discovered mitochondrial protein that is thought to regulate bioenergetics in cells. Decreasing the expression of mitoNEET subsequently induces mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis in melanoma cells. Fluorescence microscopy is used to evaluate changes in mitoNEET expression when exposed to cancer treatments such as isoliquiritigenin (ISL). Human melanoma, A375 cells, were transiently transfected for 24 hours with a mitoNEET-GFP plasmid at a concentration of 150 ng/¼L. After transfection, cells were exposed to ISL for 24 hours and imaged. The initial results show a decrease in protein expression when exposed to 0.1, 1, 10, 100 ¼M and 0.5, 5, 50, 500 ¼M of ISL. Further studies will investigate mitoNEET regulation in response to other cancer therapeutics.

Recognizing that racism is embedded in our society in both institutional andindividualized ways and noticing an extreme deficiency in anti-racism education, our study aimed to understand the impact of an anti-racist book club on honors students' thoughts, feelings, and commitment to action.Book clubs have a long history of challenging learners to examine power structures and patterns within the status quo (Friere, 1993). With this in mind, our book club sought to push students and faculty to examine racism and power within systems. In our study, 21 honors students read the text, This Book is Anti-Racist (Jewell, 2010). Participants met virtually for one hour each week, for four consecutive weeks, to engage in an interactive book club that focused on topics including identity, privilege, systemic injustice and responding to racism.Qualitative and quantitative data were collected in the form of pre- and post- book club surveys (adapted from Polleck, 2010) to measure change in racist views, knowledge, and practices. Analysis using Grounded Theory (Corbin & Strauss, 1990) allowed several key themes to emerge from the qualitative data, including 1) a deeper understanding of self-identity, 2) higher rates of acceptance, 3) inclusion, and 4) celebration of diversity. Honors students also showed a change in belief of what constitutes racism, moving from defining racism as small-scale and interpersonal prejudiced beliefs or actions to believing racism is a complex combination of personal prejudice and systemic oppression. Overall, after gaining insightful knowledge through the book club, honors students showed an increase in empathy and commitment to take action against racism in everyday life. Through book clubs, students can help reverse the deficiency in anti-racism education by taking initiative and creating a real, lasting impact on peers.

User-generated content refers to any messaging voluntarily created by consumers and shared through social media. Marketers value UGC because it is perceived by consumers to possess greater authenticity than paid advertising. This case study examines the relationship between UCG and social media and their use in building brand loyalty. Apple is considered one of the strongest brands in the world due to the cult-like loyalty of users who swear by their technology and see Apple as an extension of their persona. The Shot on iPhone campaign sought to tap into that loyalty by challenging iPhone users to post their best photos and videos on social media. Submissions were reviewed and those selected were featured in Apple brand messages and online. Shot on iPhone did demonstrate its artistic capability, but let consumers showcase their capability through their UCG submissions. The inclusion of UGC established credibility through the authenticity that is associated with this form of social proof. This unique model underscores Apple's consumer centrism while simultaneously expressing the brand's three main tenets - simplicity, creativity, and humanity. The social media metrics of Shot on iPhone speak for themselves, demonstrating the exceptional success Apple achieved in tapping its consumers' brand loyalty. The campaign produced 6 million UGC posts of photos and videos on Instagram alone, generating 6.5 billion media impressions, and 24,000 mentions by global opinion leaders, 95% of which were positive, according to TBWA Media Arts Lab.

Continued anthropogenic activities alter ecosystem composition, connectivity, and function. In western Pennsylvania, regenerating forest ecosystems health and diversity can decline due to this activity. Plant communities within the forest can reflect past and current stressors, particularly the mosses. As a highly specific relatively quick establishing community component, log-fall mosses can be used as a convenient indicator to better understand the impacts of human activities on western Pennsylvania's forests. This is due to log-fall mosses requiring specific habitat requirements, difficulty dispersing horizontally to different forest patches, intense negative reactions to stresses in the environment, and lacking non-native species. These communities can be assessed, correlated to surrounding vascular plants, and genotyped. The results of this study will allow for rapid assessment of the health and diversity of Western Pennsylvanian forests and stressors impacting these systems.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022) has identified that the unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities is currently 9.7%. To help close this gap, programming has been developed post-graduation to support adults with disabilities. One of the answers has been post-secondary college programs.  Post-secondary programs are known to benefit persons with disabilities. These programs can help individuals with disabilities with social skills, academic skills, independent living, and employment, which ultimately leads to an overall better quality of life. There are many different types of post-secondary programs that help to meet the diverse needs of students. The following research and conclusions have been made through a literature review. We have reviewed numerous studies that have collected data on the benefits of these programs, with a focus on the different types of post-secondary education programs used in the US, including the different models universities have utilized. Each of these models have different goals. After review, post-secondary programs can have great benefits for individuals with disabilities.

We study the minimum number of colors with which the intersection points of a set of line segments can be colored so that no segment contains points with the same color. Through a combination of graph theoretical, geometric, and computational approaches, we obtain novel results about the minimum required number of colors for such a coloring for different arrangements of segments. This work has potential applications in various fields, including scheduling, resource allocation, and pattern matching.

The title of the research is Communication and Conducting High School Choirs: During COVID-19 and Beyond. The opportunity to participate was made possible by Slippery Rock University Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity grant, which supplied $500 toward the project. The purpose of the research is to identify the process through which choral conductors determine the gestures that will most effectively communicate with their high school choirs, identify how conductors determine the quality of a performance and why this is important, and highlight the impact of COVID-19 on the ability of choral conductors to communicate with their high school choirs. The research is intended to act as a resource for educators and pre-service educators, like myself, who wish to further analyze the effect conducting has on performance. Because COVID-19 has caused schools to close and us to wear face masks, communication between the conductor and the performers has been impacted. This research originated from my perspective as a performer, wondering about conducting during a time absent of COVID-19, and has allowed for new insight from a conductor's perspective during a pandemic. In order to accomplish this, it was required that the thoughts of real high school conductors were noted. Ten high school choral conductors, all having taught in Region 1 of regions listed by PMEA, volunteered to participate in an interview (the means by which interviewees were obtained were not influenced by independent desire, but rather by inviting any eligible participant on a "first come, first serve" basis). Interviewees were gifted $50 for their participation. Interviews were conducted and recorded over Zoom; Zoom automatic transcriptions were on. Using the recordings, transcriptions were checked and edited for accuracy. Themes were retrieved from the interviews to further interpret the data. The next step in the process is to finalize my findings and discuss them. Throughout the process, numerous themes have appeared, all acting as valuable information for future choral conductors/educators. From acquired data, it seems as though the role that communication plays has proven to be a crucial area of interest among conductors. Emerging themes have dictated interpretation of the data and will be used as a framework for the discussion to come. The paper is intended to be submitted to PMEA News or ACDA Choral Journal to serve music educators and performers in their studies.