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  Staying On Track: The Effects Of Pre-college Tracking on Academic Self-concept of College Students

  Francesca Varriano

  The transition to institutes of higher education such as colleges and universities can be stressful for many students who are more comfortable with high school academics. Students may begin to question their academic abilities and self-concept as a learner. Additionally, one factor that many students experience in their pre-college schooling is tracking. Tracking is defined as the process of separating students by academic ability into groups/classes/levels. This study explores the relationship between pre-college tracking and the academic self-concept of college students, which is defined as the perception that a student has about his/her own academic abilities. Data for this non-experimental study was collected through a survey. The survey included demographic questions, experiences with tracking in K-12 schooling, and forty-questions regarding participants’ academic self-concept. It is hypothesized that students who were placed in lower tracks in their pre-college education will have lower academic self-concepts. These results will show how tracking and academic self-concept relates to performance in college and beyond, including potential effects on future choices such as career direction.

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  The Literary Remnants of Torture: An Examination of the United States Censorship Regime

  Olivia Vinson

  "[Redacted] was a very radical hater. He completely changed the detention policies in GTMO in all aspects. [Redacted]." In his book Guantánamo Diary, Mohamedou Ould Slahi recounts his fourteen years of imprisonment at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. Unfortunately, the United States government heavily redacted Slahi’s narrative, justifying it as a protection of identity and national security. However, in the restored version of Slahi’s book, some of the redactions raise concerns about the capricious nature of the United States’ censorship regime. The redacted quote from above names General Miller as an authoritative figure within Guantánamo who used his power to violate the inherent rights of detainees. Slahi recalls, “I personally don’t know what he told them, but as someone on the receiving end of his orders, I definitely felt the pain” (59). The purposeful removal of Miller’s name could be a protection of identity, but it also protects him from being held accountable as an abuser. The redactions present in this quote appear to be an attempt to hide the corruption taking place within Guantánamo, raising questions about what the government seeks to accomplish through censorship. This research study aims to gain an understanding of the United States’ censorship regime through an analysis of the federal government’s secrecy privileges, including the state secrets privilege and the exemptions outlined within the Freedom of Information Act. Through a comparison of these privileges against the redactions within Guantánamo Diary, this project challenges the government’s use of censorship as an attempt to avoid accountability for the abuses at Guantánamo Bay.

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  Design of a Turn-on Fluorescence Assay for the Identification and Application of Improved ADC Linkers

  Caitlin Vitro, Jared Miller, and Samantha Benjamin

  Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a class of drug currently used for the targeted treatment of cancer. The prototypical linker used for such ADCs is the Val-Cit-PABC linker due to its rapid cleavage rate by the lysosomal enzyme cathepsin B as well as its stability in human plasma. However, recent studies have shown this system to be unstable in the presence of various enzymes such as carboxylesterases and neutrophil elastases. To mitigate this issue, we designed a peptide library that can be readily screened in order to identify linker sequences that are still rapidly cleaved by lysosomal enzymes but are stable in human and mouse plasma. In short, the library was designed to utilize a turn-on fluorescence assay made possible by the fluorophore AMC (7-Amino-4-methylcoumarin). AMC is known to be non-fluorescent when the 7-amino group is bound as an amide but is highly fluorescent upon cleavage of the amide bond. Therefore, AMC can be employed as a fluorescent probe for rapid determination of amide bond cleavage – specifically that of ADC linkers. Lysosomal ADC processing relies on cleavage of the amide bond between the linker and the cytotoxic payload, and therefore the turn-on fluorescence assay provides a simple method for determining whether or not particular peptide linkers are susceptible to such cleavage. Due to its poor nucleophilicity, the AMC was attached to a single amino acid and subsequently coupled to variable tripeptide linkers. All individual compounds were purified and characterized by LCMS resulting in 130 linkers for screenings. We report the results of the linker stability and plasma stability studies focusing on linkers that have the best potential for incorporation in ADC designs.

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  Alcohol and E-Cigarette Simultaneous Use: The Role of Motivations and Expectancies

  Brendan Walsh, Michael Shaw, Ashley Shayya, and Callon Williams

  Alcohol and tobacco are significant public health threats, which are magnified during simultaneous use (i.e., under the effects of both substances). E-cigarettes are not a harmless alternative to combustible cigarettes, yet the prevalence of e-cigarette use among college students rose 400% between 2017-2018. Additionally, around 60% of college students consumed alcohol in the past month. Simultaneous alcohol and nicotine use can result in an increased state of pleasure, which may affect rates of usage. The purpose of this study is to assess variations in patterns of e-cigarette use, outcome expectancies, and perceived pleasure from e-cigarettes as a function of alcohol use. This project is expanding on previous research that has linked hazardous alcohol consumption with greater expectancies for the simultaneous use of alcohol and e-cigarettes. Participants (N = 552; Mage = 23.57 years; 56.5% Female) were recruited on Amazon’s MTurk and completed measures of frequency/quantity of alcohol (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and nicotine (Penn State Nicotine Dependence Index) use, expectancies for simultaneous e-cigarette/alcohol use (Nicotine and Other Substances Interaction Expectancies-Revised), and perceived pleasure and frequency of simultaneous e-cigarette alcohol/use. After controlling for age, ethnicity, college enrollment, and nicotine dependence, separate linear regression models revealed that greater alcohol consumption was associated with greater expectancies for simultaneous use of e-cigarettes/alcohol and greater pleasure from simultaneous use (all ps < .015). Similarly, separate regressions revealed that as people engage in greater frequency of simultaneous use, they also report greater expectancies and greater pleasure for simultaneous use (all ps < .001). Examination of squared semipartial correlations revealed that frequency of simultaneous use was more strongly related to each outcome variable than alcohol consumption alone. Findings add to a growing body of knowledge on simultaneous e-cigarette/alcohol use and have implications for interventions to reduce both behaviors.

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  Policy Analysis: Black Voter Turnout after Shelby v. Holder

  Samantha Walsh, Alexanda Yoest, Kamryn Scott, and Thomas Lewis

  In the United States, state governments have targeted Black and other disadvantaged voters through a combination of policies meant to increase challenges related to casting a ballot. These challenges have resulted in low voter turnout that impacts the ability of our democracy to function successfully. The Voting Rights Act (VRA) passed in 1965 was intended to remedy this discrimination and ensure equal voting access. Though it has been successful at increasing the voting rates of people of color, the Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder (2013) decision struck down Section 5 of the VRA. Section 5 provided a formula that the Justice Department used to require certain states with histories of passing discriminatory voting legislation to receive preclearance from the federal government before pursuing new voting reforms. For this paper, we specifically look at Black voter turnout between 2008-2018 in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia to analyze how voting restrictions have affected voting trends. Undertaking an analysis of voting restrictions enacted in the aftermath of Shelby v. Holder (2013), and the extent of their impact on Black voter turnout in the United States, requires the establishment of evaluation criteria necessary for the comparison of policy alternatives. With our primary aim to rectify this problem and prompt an increase in voter turnout within the Black community, we have set effectiveness, equity, and political viability as the three evaluation criteria that guide our suggestions for policy alternatives. In alignment with these criteria, we propose three recommendations for feasible policy alternatives: Status Quo, Modifying the Voting Rights Act, and Federalizing the U.S. Election Administration System. Based on this analysis of our recommended policy alternatives and our corresponding evaluation criteria, we conclude that our second policy alternative, ‘Modifying the Voting Rights Act’, best fulfills our outlined standards.

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  An Investigation of “Just Talking”: Assigning an Operational Definition to a Contemporary Dating Phenomenon

  Leora Wasserman, Angela Win, Sherrina Abdool, Jennifer Ranaldo, Gianna Deni, Madison Tierney, and Samanths Tomasi

  The term “Just Talking” describes an intentionally ambiguous preliminary relationship phase which lacks definitional consensus. This study was guided by prior research indicating that this phase is a means to avoid relationship labels, commitment, and exclusivity, but there is general disagreement about what “Just Talking” entails. This investigation sought to assign an operational definition to this term based on qualitative analysis of data obtained from separate and mixed-gender focus groups. We analyzed responses from college students describing their understanding of “Just Talking” as an emergent phenomenon of intimacy accumulation. In an attempt to understand how the nuances of modern-day communication have altered college hookup culture, the focus groups examined discrepancies based on personal accounts from participants. Through inquiries about emotional and physical intimacy across varying cultures and viewpoints, this study broadened our understanding of “Just Talking.” Further studies will be conducted to assess the complex interplay of contemporary and traditional dating culture in relation to “Just Talking.”

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  Community-Focused Resilience, Climate Adaptation, and Sustainability Planning — One in the Same or Distinct Planning Processes?

  Samantha Wong, Christopher Clavin, Emily Walpole, and Avery D'Abreau

  Communities in the United States are increasingly undertaking initiatives aimed to prepare themselves for the impacts of climate change, improve their resilience, and build their sustainability. To achieve these objectives, communities often undertake a planning process resulting in various planning documents - namely, sustainability, climate change adaptation, hazard mitigation, and resilience plans. These documents are integral to communities as they create plans and objectives that help them achieve goals related to climate change, environmental sustainability, and economic development, among other topics. As communities undertake initiatives to simultaneously address these objectives, it is important to understand how the planning processes used may be similar and potentially complementary, or may be distinct and present trade-offs to one another, and to anticipate how this may affect community planning. To explore this issue, as part of the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) working with researchers at The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Community Resilience Group, we conducted a content analysis of community resilience, climate change adaptation, hazard mitigation, and sustainability planning guides at the community scale. Through identifying the commonalities and differences of these documents, our research aims to improve planning efficiency, foster communication on these topics, and benefit communities.

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  In the Eyes of the Beholder: Rapid Body Color Change Provides Facultative Crypsis in a Lizard

  Kelly Wuthrich and Amber Morgan

  Camouflage is an important component of antipredator behaviors. In many species, rapid color change provides plasticity in camouflage as animals move through their environments. As rapid color change can also play a role in other aspects of behavior such as territory defense and courtship, an experimental approach is required to determine color change’s function. In the Anolis genus, rapid color change is a signal in social interactions, but why color changes as anoles move through different microhabitats is not well explored. Anolis aquaticus has a rapid dark-to-light color change with an unknown function. We tested the hypothesis that A. aquaticus uses color change for camouflage in an experimental field study. A. aquaticus were tethered in multiple microhabitats, and standardized images were collected of their body coloration and substrates. We examined if anole color change represented camouflage as perceived by a predator (bird) by creating vision models corrected for their retinal processing. We discuss our results with respect to antipredator strategies, and we use literature on Anolis behavior to interpret our findings in light of evolution.

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  Young Adult and Canonical Literature Instruction in the High School Classroom: Assessing Students’ Reading Interest

  Alexis Yang

  In the high school English classroom, classic novels are taught as cornerstones of the curriculum. Although these canonical works such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer are revered for their literary merit, students often find them boring and skim through the readings or decline to read altogether. Young adult literature (YAL), a genre written for teens, may be an effective genre to teach in high school to boost student reading interest. This study aims to determine how teaching young adult literature in the high school classroom, as opposed to canonical works, affects students’ interest in the texts. A survey was administered to high school students studying YAL in Binghamton and Johnson City, NY. The survey asked students to describe their interest in an assigned YAL book and compare it to their interest in canonical novels that they have read in the past. Potential implications of this research include revising the English literature curriculum to accommodate student reading interest.

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  Predictive Policing: The Use of AI in the Justice System and the Future of Law Enforcement

  Eric Yen

  Defund the police. This simple mantra carried an immense weight as it rippled through the country last summer. It rallied millions together to protest the death of those victims of police brutality, such as George Flloyd and Breona Taylor. The turmoil and uncertainty opened up one glaring question: what does the future of policing look like? How will the police operate with less funding, while becoming more equitable? One answer seems to be predictive policing, which has already been implemented by the NYPD and LAPD. This method utilizes algorithms to predict when and where a crime will take place, and sends officers to the location to deter those from committing the crime. They believe that this technology will account for human bias and promote equality within the system. However, in practice it is ineffective and invasive at best and at its worst, re-entrenches racial bias and inequity. Though some discourse surrounds the issue, little legislation has been passed to govern the programs due to the obscurity and complexity of the programs and the inability to measure their effectiveness. In my research, I will breakdown how these programs work, as well as do close readings of existing laws that can be applied to these programs. I plan to determine whether or not predictive policing is the way forward, and what alternatives or corrections that can be made to make it more effective.

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  Was it Something That I Said?: Conveying Emotion In Texting

  Zhiqian Zhang, Christoper Dunne, Andrew Cook, Rachel Poirier, and Kenneth Houhghton

  Texting is frequently used in business and day-to-day communication. Without typical speech cues such as tone of voice and facial expressions, it is more difficult to express and comprehend emotion through texting than through face-to-face communication. Previous studies have shown that negative emotion can be conveyed by punctuation marks, such as a period after a one-word reply (e.g., Okay.). In this study, we explored the format of text messages, specifically whether dividing a complete sentence into separate words in multiple texts might convey social and pragmatic information. It is hypothesized that sending a text message one word at a time conveys more intense emotion than sending the same message in a single text. The participants were asked to read text exchanges on a display that resembled mobile phone screens. Half of the critical lines were presented in a single text while the other half were presented across multiple texts, with one word per text. After reading, participants rated the intensity of emotions (frustrated, angry, disgusted) conveyed by different texting formats. The experiment is still in the stage of collecting data.

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  Assessing the Effectiveness of the CHOW Mobile Grocery Store in Broome County in Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Consumption

  Allison Zimmerman

  Access to healthy food is known to be important to maintaining good health. With obesity on the rise in America, this is even more important. Recently mobile market stores have been used to increase access to healthy foods in many underserved communities that are considered food deserts. The purpose of this study is to research and evaluate if there is a significant increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables in Broome County communities where access to mobile markets is available. To address this, I conducted interviews with volunteers who worked on the mobile market in order to gauge if the mobile market produced any changes in eating behaviors or food choices. I believe the results will show that, after shopping at the mobile market, fruit and vegetable consumption increased and people were more aware of healthy eating and buying habits. However access to foods may not be enough, increasing community awareness and engagement by providing nutrition education, taste testing, and seasonal recipes may be helpful in increasing healthfully minded behaviors. This study emphasizes the importance of increased food access in food deserts and underserved communities. The use of a mobile market is a convenient way to do so and its mobility allows it to help more people in need. Towns and cities should consider implementing mobile markets into their communities.

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  Evaluating the Role of Transportation and Potential Barriers to Food Access in Binghamton’s North Side

  Eric Zipman

  In Binghamton, which is home to the Northside and First Ward food deserts, food insecurity is a significant community concern. Many emergency food aid networks operate in Binghamton, such as community pantries, the Binghamton Food Rescue, North Side Mutual Aid, and CHOW to address immediate needs; however, long-term food security requires removing barriers to food access, such as inadequate transportation. Food-insecure people without personal transportation either try to navigate public transportation, or choose to use more proximate outlets that may lack nutritious foods. Public transportation provided through the Broome County Bus System is limited in the scope of bus routes, schedules, and how many bags of groceries one can carry at once. To better understand how to improve public transportation for Binghamton’s Northside residents, and especially the food-insecure population, I study whether the Broome County Transit System adequately meets transportation needs for its Northside to facilitate food access. I identify limitations of the Broome County bus system by conversing with community members and people working in food aid, reviewing Census maps, and studying the transportation system in relation to the location of food outlets. I also survey shoppers at the newly-opened Greater Good Grocery, the first grocery in the Northside food desert since 1996, about their transportation and grocery needs. I find that those without personal transportation tend to rely on food aid, less nutritious food outlets, or more expensive services like Grubhub. The opening of the Greater Good Grocery seems to be a good first step to improve access to food in the Northside for those nearby without personal transportation. Targeted community transportation initiatives such as restructured bus and CHOW mobile market routes would help further improve food access, and protect those who may become food insecure because of unforeseen financial stresses.