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  Racial and Ethnic Disparities Within Maternal Health

  Nyrie Abdur-Rahim

  There is a serious lack of effective measures being taken to address the issue of maternal mortality and morbidity disparities within the United States. Multitude of factors aid in the disproportionate quality of care received by racial and ethnic minority women compared to white women. In maternal health, there exists a clear disparity regarding the rates at which ethnic and racial minorities experience both death and lasting health outcomes pre- and post- natal. I analyze quantitative data in the existing literature to explain why disparities in maternal health persist. I highlight these aspects to bring attention to the lack of effective measures being taken despite the severity of this issue. Thorough analysis will be provided on how the varying quality of care for expecting individuals can be linked to race and the intersectional issues of class, access, and education, thereby leading to varying maternal health outcomes. This allows for a clearer understanding of ethnic and racial disparities in the health system while furthering the discussion of the importance of maternal health within the U.S.

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  Fast-Food, Sugary Food, High Caffeine Intake and Dental-Related Anxieties

  Eeshah Ahmed, Sana Malik, and Lina Begdache

  Existing literature has investigated the relationship between dental anxieties and oral health, yet the relationship between diet and oral health status has yet to be examined. The purpose of this research study was to determine the correlational relationships that exist between oral health, dental anxiety, and nutrition. Data was collected through an anonymous Google Forms survey which was distributed to patients at various dental offices in the Binghamton-Vestal, NY area as well among Binghamton University students. The distributed survey was composed of the validated Food-Mood Questionnaire with questions pertaining to demographics, dental health and dental health anxieties. A total of 506 responses were collected and analyzed using Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient in SPSS version 25.0. Our results suggest that females are more likely to experience dental anxiety than men. An increase in the consumption of low-quality-energy dense foods, including pre-packaged food, fast food, and sugary foods, a pattern similar to the Western diet, as well as caffeine consumption of 4 times or more per week, were positively correlated (P < 0.01) with increased nervousness and anxiety at the dental office. Frequent consumption of low-quality-energy dense foods was also positively correlated with increased feelings of general mental health distress. Our findings provide a proof of concept that dietary patterns are potentially associated with dental anxiety, and modulation of these patterns may diminish dental-related mental distress.

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  North Koreans and the Fight Against Disinformation in Contemporary Society

  Kelcie Alba

  This study identifies the impacts of disinformation on the citizens of North Korea in the 21st century. I intend to discuss the difference between propaganda and disinformation, and how disinformation is currently widespread throughout the country by examining North Korean efforts in lying about officials’ credibility and commonly-known aspects of global history in order to justify their oppressive regime, as well as interviews with refugees and government-issued documents. Said documents, such as textbooks, have deliberately been altered to misinform the public and create animosity towards countries such as Japan and the United States. Although initially conditioned to not question the government and its laws, the fall of the USSR taught North Koreans that they must act for themselves–relying on the government after the USSR fell resulted in a devastating famine that killed an estimated one million people. It is important to distinguish disinformation from propaganda in order to understand that North Koreans are naive, not brain-washed. Efforts such as selling illegal foreign imports in Chinese Yuan and bribing police are not spoken about in Western media (most only see government-approved messages), but are significant to the ordinary people that engage in them. Disinformation has shaped their acts against the government. Additionally, for those who cannot seek refuge, idolizing media from its neighbors geographically is crucial in realizing their naivete and countering the disinformation that has been fed to them. The perceived image of a nationalistic, military-obsessive, anti-Western public is a reality that has faded away in the 21st century.

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  Digital Manipulation on Social Media: How Deep Fakes Have Transformed the Cyber World into a Complex Breeding Ground of Disinformation

  Meghan Anderson

  Technology and social media are a driving force within the present-day global society. Facts and figures can be spread to billions of people within minutes. Anyone can find a variety of information—both true and false—online with one simple click. With this rapid rise of the dominance of digital media comes a severe cost—an influx of disinformation campaigns in different forms. Although one may think that disinformation only appears in written works or visual images, the reality is that intentionally-modified videos are one of the most prevalent methods of disinformation attacks today. These altered videos, more commonly known as deep fakes, are one of the most damaging and misleading forms of disinformation. My research will focus on analyzing deep fakes of famous politicians, including American Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. I aim to provide insight into the spread of distinct deep fakes and their respective impacts on their naive consumers around the world. My study will focus on how the general public is constantly exposed to deep fakes on various social media platforms which results in their harmful belief of false narratives. My analysis will showcase how a deep fake’s online presence has lasting consequences on naive observers as seen through their massive global audience and how one’s perception of reality can be entirely skewed through one simple viewing.

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  Binghamton City School District’s Meal Programs and their Impact on Reducing Local Food Insecurity

  Kate Anemone

  The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic recession resulted in a stark increase in the number of food insecure children nationally and in the Binghamton City School District locally. The lack of nutritious food can lead to poor physical and mental health in adolescents. To mitigate said health concerns, the Binghamton City School District implemented the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) to provide free meals to all students. In my research, I will evaluate the impact of the NSLP and SBP on decreasing the food insecurity rates in the Binghamton City School District amidst the COIVD-19 pandemic. Evaluations of the NSLP and SBP participation rates before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 will be conducted. The results suggest that the consistent use of the National free meal programs lowers the amount of food insecure children in Broome County. Families express that subsidized meals give them security in knowing their children will be properly nourished. This research indicates that widespread use of the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program will minimize the national food insecurity rate.

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  The Use of Disinformation as a Political Weapon

  Rachael Arlet

  Disinformation is a powerful tool that has the ability to cause a lot of harm. It is especially harmful when it is used as a weapon by nations to inflict damage on other nations. Spreading disinformation is a way for governments to gain the trust of other countries, while simultaneously severing the trust between the targeted nation and other countries. During the time period of the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union were engaged in a battle of dominance which led to the spread of disinformation on both sides. One documented instance of disinformation from the United States was a study that was released by United States government workers concerning infant mortality rates and life expectancy in the Soviet Union. It was reported that the Soviet Union was experiencing high rates of infant mortality and low life expectancy. A review of this study was published in the New York Review that was heavily dramatized and sensationalized. A response to both the study and the review of the study was put out which found that the statistics in the study were exaggerated and taken out of context in order to delegitimize the Soviet Union. The use of disinformation as a political weapon by nations involved in conflict is something that happens often and can have costly effects. Studying this will lead to a better understanding of how the use of disinformation affects nations globally.

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  The Manifestation of Capitalism in the U.S. Healthcare System

  Justin Ashman

  This research discusses the relationship between capitalism and effective healthcare, specifically in the United States. Despite being the wealthiest nation in the world the U.S. has demonstrated its lack of an effective healthcare system through its lack of coverage and poor care. While many people are quick to throw the blame on “capitalism,” my research argues that capitalism and healthcare can coexist, though not under the current economic conditions present in the U.S. In order to demonstrate this, I will compare the healthcare systems of Massachusetts and Alabama. Despite both being U.S. states and having a capitalist economy, Massachusetts has proven to have a much better healthcare system than Alabama. In order to explain why their healthcare quality is so different I will analyze the policies of both states, both economic and political, in order to determine why Massachusetts has much better healthcare quality.

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  The Need for a Wellbeing Tool for Children

  Ashley Avrani, Marisa Castano, Karolina Haladus, Karolina Haladus, Christie Liguori, and Katherine Loughlin

  Well-being is characterized by a measure of overall quality of life that spans cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and social functions. As a multi-dimensional concept, its measurement is vital for the evaluation of mental and physical development. Well-being was immensely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and enforced isolation measures, resulting in challenged mental, physical, and emotional health of children. Prior studies pertaining to the impacts on the youth population include an increase in sedentary behaviors, social isolation, and more severe symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression. A lack of physical activity and social distancing could lead to numerous psychosocial and physical implications. Research findings demonstrate the need for a focus on child wellbeing post pandemic. There is currently no existing tool to assess child wellbeing. The Wellbeing Tool that we propose is an instrument that will measure overall quality of life, utilizing pictures and simple language suitable for young children to easily comprehend. The Wellbeing Tool is beneficial to assess the emotional, physical, and mental health of children in a standardized way, especially in times of extreme stress and poor health due to external factors. Results from this study can be utilized to raise awareness of the negative effects of quarantine and isolation and to develop interventions that address challenges of mental health in youth.

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  Culture Shock: A Study in Queer Exploration and Acceptance Through the College Transition for Binghamton University Students

  Davin Baik and Connor Young

  Transitioning from high school to college introduces a student to a host of new communities and freedoms, many of which are conducive to understanding and exploring queer (sensu lato) identity. Our objective is to discern what effects moving to college has on exploration and expression of queerness, in conjunction with how the student interacts with others in this new environment. We plan to accomplish this by conducting a series of interviews with queer or questioning Binghamton University students, primarily focusing on those in their first year of study. We seek to compile their individual experiences with the change in environment and its effect on them in regards to their identity or how they are able to explore and express it. These interviews will attempt to isolate key aspects of university life that could contribute to greater comfort or ability to explore queer identity in comparison to a pre-college environment. Some of the primary factors that we will address include an increased access to information regarding queer identity; exposure to different queer communities either through campus organizations or individuals; and the possibility of the campus community being a more accepting place for queer identities than the student’s pre-college community.

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  Bioterrorism: A Largely Unrecognized 21st Century Threat

  Michael Balboni

  Bioterrorism—the intentional release of harmful biological agents to generate illness or death in others—is no new phenomenon. This piece aims not to fearmonger, nor to create distrust toward governments; instead, its goal is to raise awareness of the potential danger of bioterrorism and to potentially spark action in greater preparation for such events. Bioterrorism is a momentous issue that does not deserve to be overlooked—for the sake of the future. In the 14th century BC, the Hittites performed what is considered by many to be the first act of bioterrorism. Following the Hittites were countless more examples of this type of attack, including the Mongols in 1347, the 2001 Amerithrax attacks, and several in between. An analysis of these events through scholarly literature, journals, and legal documents reveals persisting efforts to employ sickness to hurt individuals; to deliberately impose adverse effects on desired targets. Taking into consideration the ongoing trend of developing technology in modern society, techniques utilized to control pathogens will only be heightened; systems for handling and spreading these microbes will operate more rapidly and stealthily. By examining past instances of bioterrorism, along with its development, it becomes clear that its peril only grows. Important questions addressed in this research are, but are not limited to: how bioterrorism has developed, why it can be so consequential, and why it is necessary to identify it as a legitimate threat.

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  Art, Science, and Spirituality: The Paintings of Jay Milder

  Karina Balian

  American painter Jay Milder, active from the late 1950s through the present, expresses his beliefs about spirituality and science using thick layers of oil paint and unconventional materials, such as volcanic ash. His experimental approach to painting, which both commentators and Milder himself have described as alchemy, draws upon his lifelong interest in belief systems such as Kabbalah, Theosophy, and various non-Western spiritual traditions. For Milder, art is a bridge connecting reason and the subconscious. His distaste for Western philosophy influences the composition of his artwork, rejecting conventional modes of representation that originated in the Renaissance. He values the material physicality of paint as more than just a means of semiotic representation. For him, the process of shaping paint is internally motivated by personal spirituality, rather than an attempt to mimic reality on a canvas. Through research on Milder’s paintings, I investigate how humans have formed and expressed their responses to the world through art, science, and religion, and how these domains have informed each other.

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  Grain Analysis of Pliocene-Pleistocene Sediments from the Chatham Rise

  Thea Barbelet, Molly Patterson, and Bethany Royce

  Southern Ocean, sea ice, and ice sheet interactions play an important role in the formation and export of deep water into the adjacent ocean basins. This process of deep ocean circulation has an important consequence on Earth’s meridional distribution and transport of heat, salts, and gases. Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1123 sits in the path of the southwest Pacific Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC), where the largest inflow of deep Southern Ocean water enters into any of the ocean basins. Here we present a multi-proxy mid-Pliocene to early Pleistocene (3.5-2.5 Ma) study examining how changes in the inflow of deepwater coincided with Late Pliocene Southern Ocean cooling at 3.3 Ma. Our benthic δ18O record is consistent with the globally integrated stack, LR04. Our benthic δ13C data covaries with X-ray diffraction (XRD) redox proxies (e.g., Mn/Fe and Mn/Al), indicating changes in deep ocean ventilation over glacial-interglacial cycles. Initial grain size data examining the size sorting of silt (sortable silt) implies a potential increase in deep water inflow into the Pacific after 3.3 Ma, as a consequence of sea ice development around the Antarctic margin that is characterized by relatively low δ13C composition, reflecting the enhanced contribution of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) with a relatively strong southern sourced signature. Future research will focus on the development of a complement 3.5 to 2.5 Ma grain size record in order to examine the relationship between changes in sediment supply, size sorting of sediment and deep ocean ventilation changes.

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  Relationships between Mental Distress and Food Intake Parameters Using Exploratory Data Analysis

  Kanishk Barhanpurkar, Saloumeh Sadeghzadeh, and Lina Begdache

  Dietary intake plays an important role in the development of physical and mental health. Vital nutrients support day-to-day activities and biological processes. The physical health parameters can be easily correlated with the type of dietary intake. However, mapping of mental health parameters is still an area in need of further research. It is a strenuous task as it is widely dependent on a broad spectrum of attributes. The dataset is collected from a survey study on a group of 227 individuals who are categorized based on their gender and age. A questionnaire that contains 26 parameters is used for collecting information related to dietary intake and mental health parameters. We have mapped the mental health and dietary intake parameters using Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) and Data Visualization techniques. Distinctive patterns have been observed that describe the correlation between food intake and mental distress parameters. Additionally, the research outcomes also describe the attributes that help to elevate the factors for mental well-being and emotional health.

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  What Factors Affect Adherence to COVID-19 Misinformation?

  Althea Barrett

  Adherence to misinformation has been a rising issue throughout the past couple of years, and COVID-19 is the best opportunity at the moment to try and make the possible factors affecting it quantifiable. My research project revolves around the relationship between adherence to COVID-19 misinformation and other influences within one’s life. These factors include socioeconomic status, age, political orientation, exposure to COVID-19 (either of oneself or a loved one), and area of residence (urban or rural). I will distribute a survey that 1) screens the reader on these factors and 2) asks the reader multiple-choice questions assessing their adherence to COVID-19 misinformation, their answers to which will then be used to convert their adherence to misinformation into a numerical score. These results could give us as a country a whole new understanding of misinformation as a phenomenon, thereby giving us necessary tools to combat it in the modern age. Does a higher socioeconomic status mean that one is likely to be better educated, or are the rich instead disconnected from the lives of the common folk? Are the youth more discerning of misinformation or are they the most vulnerable to it? How does personal experience affect one’s view on the given subject matter? This survey can help answer all of these questions and more, and this is important because we can’t expect to solve a problem such as the spread of misinformation without first understanding what makes it tick.

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  Disappearance of High Incidence Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Parkinsonism Dementia in the Western Pacific: Clues to their Etiology

  Stephanie Barrett and Shruti Venkatesh

  Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinsonism Dementia (PD) are two important neurodegenerative disorders that exhibited extremely high incidence rates within 3 foci of the Western Pacific: the Kii Peninsula of Japan, the Auyu and Jakai speaking people of Western New Guinea, and the Chamorros of Guam in the Mariana Islands. ALS is caused by a degradation of the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord leading to a progressive weakness and atrophy of skeletal muscles. Patients with PD exhibit slowness of motor activity, disturbances in gait and a loss of cognitive function. From the latter half of the 20th century, reported incidence rates of ALS and PD in these foci were hundreds and even a thousand times greater than the incidence rates in the United States and elsewhere globally. Our epidemiological analysis demonstrates that the high incidence of ALS and PD in these foci has dramatically declined and was accompanied by an older patient age of onset alongside a change in the male to female sex ratio from more than 2:1 to near unity today. Having occurred within families of first degree relatives, the declination was thought to have been due to unknown genetic factors. However, increasing modernization and shifts in lifestyle and cultural practices suggest the causal factors are likely environmental. This study will detail our epidemiological findings, and summarize the ecological and experimental data in support of two long- standing environmental hypotheses involving candidate neurotoxins as a cause of ALS and PD in these foci.

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  Analyzing the Access to Unhealthy Food Sources in Relation to Obesity and Income Levels in Broome County

  Ria Bhutani

  The relationship between income level, obesity, and fast-food restaurant availability can give us an insight into why people are more likely to choose food that is more readily available to them in terms of location, affordability, and general convenience. The consumption of fast food as an alternative to home-cooked meals is a common practice that is usually seen in mostly lower-income populations because of its affordability. In order to see if there was a correlation between the availability of fast-food restaurants and the obesity rates of various towns and cities of Broome County, especially within the lower-income town, I compiled data on the number of fast-food restaurants in each town with the town’s obesity rates to see if there was a correlation. I compared the data from nineteen different cities and towns of Broome County, including data about the obesity rates, income levels, and the number of fast-food restaurants in each region. I expect to find that the data collected will show that as the number of fast-food restaurants goes up, so will the obesity rates within each town or city. Additionally, as both of these variables go up, the income level of each town or city will go down. This study can help us understand why it might be important to create more low-price meal options that are as readily available, affordable, and yet more nutritious for lower-income families to choose in order to avoid the health risks that come with the fast-food industry.

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  Re-assessing Wang shi-fu and "The Four Masters of Yuan Drama."

  Yao Bian

  Yuan zaju (元杂剧), also known as the qu-poetry of Yuan (元曲), was the preeminent theatrical form in China in the thirteen and fourteenth century under Mongol rule. It was featured by the four act structure, sung arias interspersed between dialogues as well as the miscellaneous arts of dance, mime and acrobatics. Yet Wang shi-fu, the author of the most controversial and acclaimed zaju throughout Chinese history The West Chamber (《西厢记》), was denied the honor of the top four zaju composers.This research project spotlights the most celebrated zaju playwrights Guan han-qing关汉卿, Bai pu白朴, Ma zhi-yuan马致远, Zheng guang-zu郑光祖, Wang shi-fu 王实甫 surrounding the genesis and inheritance of the nomination “The Four Masters of Yuan Drama.” The study has been divided into three session in pursuit of the historical antithesis. The first section is conducted around the five playwrights, giving emphasis to the characteristic and contribution of each through analysis and comparison of selected works. Then, it is followed by chronological research on the inception and dissemination of the entitlement. Finally, the project concludes with the discussion of political-social-cutural factors that may have contributed to Wang shi-fu’s “exclusion” and eventually debunking the myth of biased representation. The goal of the case study is to initiate more in-depth discourses on the recognition and reception of dramatists and the rectification of archival discrimination, suppression and persecution.

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  Application of Production Process on Translation of Dramatic Literature

  Yao Bian, Mary Chattin, Caleb Dransfield, and Zachary Sirkin

  Surpassing literary and non-literary delineation, theater and performance translation has long being holding a unique position amongst all the types of linguistic and cultural transmission. Being concurrently a legitimate working document and stylized literature set up challenges as well as enables creative approaches to balance the key criterion of equivalence, relative autonomy and functionality. The project uses The Stronger, a dramatic monologue authored by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg, as the sample text to generate of an actable Chinese translation. The translation has adopted the principle of domestication by relocating the action to 1930s Shanghai to enhance audience accessibility. The experimentation is conducted through five phases: drafting, critical revision, rehearsal revision, performance and collaborative revision, and filming and reflective revision to examine how production process, acting in particular may assist preparation, revision and refinement of play translation. After applying adjustment to the initial document based on faculty review, the translator is to impersonate the only speaking role and reassess the draft from an actress’s perspective to generate the second revision. Three functional moment are then selected and enacted before a group of English-Chinese bilingual students, with their critical comments specifying direction for a third round of revision. This revision along with modified acting choices are to be filmed for peer review that will lead to the finalized translation. The findings from the progress expounds the benefaction and limitation of participatory and collaborative contribution, pointing to the potential of specialist translators and translation training amongst theater practitioners.

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  How Jewish Students at Binghamton University Mediate Discrepancies between Judaism and Capitalism

  Ethan Bitran

  Capitalism, as ideology, exists subconsciously within individuals and influences an individual’s perspective on the world. Although capitalism thrives on exploitation—its fundamental logic, as Marxist analysis shows—it is noticeable that there is no dominant revolution against it, even by those whose core religious beliefs—they believe—motivate their lives. To investigate the paradox of how individuals connected to their religion rationalize their existence among potentially conflicting personal core religious truths and core truths of systemic capitalism, this presentation examines Jewish students at Binghamton University. For the research method, interviews of Jewish students at Binghamton University who affiliate themselves with the Hillel organization on campus and are familiar to the author of this research were performed. Within each interview lay 3 steps. First, expose the subject to the core truths of capitalism, as expressed by Marx and Marxist thinkers. Second, have the subject explain their core truths of Judaism. Third, discuss with the subject how they manage the disparities (if they find any) between the two sets of ideas. Through the interviews from the 5 participants, one can see that these Jewish students recognize the contradictions between the core truths of Judaism and capitalism. It can also be surmised that for Jewish students at Binghamton University, their religion proves to counterbalance capitalism’s abuses in society, and most participants demonstrated that their core Jewish values, especially pertaining to ideas such as tzedakah, or the giving of charity, incentivize them to work to lessen—not eliminate—the injustices they see.

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  Dental Health and Self-Reported Childhood Socioeconomic Status in the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection

  Lydia Blizzard and Haley Horbaly

  Research on health disparities in modern populations has established that an individual’s socioeconomic status (SES) determines their participation in dental services, with lower SES groups exhibiting reduced engagement in such services. While this association between SES and health care is established for living populations, it is unknown whether this pattern is observable in a skeletal population. This study assesses whether this trend is evident in the dentition of 186 randomly selected donors in Bass Donated Skeletal Collection (WMB). Antemortem documents include self-reported childhood SES, which were scored on a scale of one (low income) to four (high income). Individuals were evaluated for dental work and dental pathology on a presence/absence basis. Analysis shows almost all individuals (92.6%) had dental work present, while just over half (60.6%) exhibited dental pathology. Cochran-Armitage tests indicate a significant relationship between the presence of dental pathology and SES (p < 0.01); specifically, higher SES groups exhibit a higher prevalence of dental pathology. Interestingly, no statistically significant relationship is observed between dental work and SES, nor between dental work and dental pathology (p > 0.01). These findings may indicate a limited relationship between SES and dental care in the WMB; alternatively, childhood SES may not reflect adult SES and therefore fails to predict engagement with dental care in this sample. This study highlights the difficulty of integrating self-reported antemortem data with skeletal evidence to infer social standing or health as biological anthropologists are often tasked to do.

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  Land Management, Conservation, and the Adirondack Park

  Elizabeth Bordt

  New York State’s Adirondack Park is one of the largest protected areas in the country, covering about 6 million acres of the state. Among the unique aspects of this park is the shared space of state owned and privately owned land. In the heart of the Park is the Preserve, with the written goal of keeping protected lands “forever wild.” As deforestation wrecks the planet, it’s important to conserve what pockets of forests we have left. The Park’s goal of “forever wild” seems to uphold this idea, but has this goal been accomplished in terms of preservation of forests, and how does the relationship of public/private land affect that? This study aims to analyze how state parks manage their lands in relation to conservation, and how complicated relationships with local landowners may affect these efforts. To answer this question, I have researched various documents and papers recounting the history of the park, land classifications, and the process of acquiring land through the APA, and the agency/park’s conservation efforts. From this research I have learned of a contentious history between the APA and local communities. I expect to find more information about this contention and how the relationships between residents/landowners and the parks’ higher management is today. I expect the agency to have some programs aiming for conservation and environmentalism, but further research is needed to understand how effective this has been in the area.

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  High-Sugar Adapted Drosophila Melanogaster Display Differences in Feeding Behavior

  Melina Brunelli

  Overnutrition due to chronic high-sugar (HS) feeding has been shown to reduce lifespan and elicit type II diabetes-like pathophysiology phenotypes in Drosophila melanogaster. We are using an experimental evolution approach in large, outbred Drosophila populations using a HS diet as the selective pressure. This has produced rapid phenotypic adaptation including a significant increase in survival for selected flies on the HS diet. One mechanism by which flies might reduce the effects of a HS diet would be to reduce consumption. Thus, we hypothesized that there would be differences in feeding behavior between control and adapted populations. Four control and four HS-selected populations were separated by sex and fed either control (5% w/v sucrose) or HS (34% w/v) medium supplemented with 2% FD&C Blue #1 for two hours and spectrometry was used to quantify the amount consumed. Consistent with previous findings, females ate more than males. Some HS-adapted fly populations exhibited an overall reduction in feeding, whereas others showed a greater sensitivity to calorie content, compared with controls. In the selected population with the longest lifespan and healthspan, there was no difference in females’ feeding on control food, but a significant reduction was observed when eating HS food. This is consistent with the greater triacylglycerol (TAG) content in HS-fed control flies, compared with selected flies. Moving forward, we hope to probe the role of acetylcholine signaling in producing the feeding differences between the control and adapted populations.

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  Nutrition and Stress: Finding a Link Between Eating Habits and General Stress & Anxiety

  Lilian Brusic, Eghosa Idahor, Luka Roth, Mattew Leconte, Serita Kuang, and Stephen Cooney

  Mental and physical health are closely connected; diet and exercise regimens can affect mental health and stress levels. Research has found links between inflammation—caused by processed foods—causing increased rates of depression. Diets high in fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, can reduce rates of depression by supporting the gut microbiome and by providing essential micronutrients and antioxidants. For our research, the investigation showed links between dietary habits and stress. The online survey was administered through word of mouth, social media, and group chats. The survey gathered information pertaining to the demographics, diet and exercise habits, and mental wellness of 194 participants over the course of three weeks. The results were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. The Pearson coefficient was used to examine correlations between students' dietary and lifestyle choices and overall mental well-being. Our results displayed that breakfast would improve mood because skipping breakfast leads to the brain producing excess cortisol. Based on our findings, there was a strong negative correlation between eating breakfast and negative emotions such as eating breakfast and feeling nervousness ( r = -0.186) (P<0.01), eating breakfast and feeling restless (r = -0.210) (P<0.01), and eating breakfast and feeling depressed ( r = -0.155) (P<0.01) . To conclude, eating healthy foods regularly can positively affect brain function; students with healthy eating and exercise patterns have demonstrated reduced stress and anxiety.

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  Costume Design for She Kills Monsters

  Gayani Bulathsinghala

  I am proposing to show my work as a costume designer for She Kills Monsters, a drama-comedy play by Qui Nguyen. The story is about Agnes Evans, who loses her parents and sister Tilly to a car accident. The sisters did not have a good relationship growing up and Agnes is trying to make-up for that by trying to get to know Tilly better by playing a Dungeons & Dragons module that Tilly had written. A costume designer is not only a designer of clothing, but also a researcher. When a script is handed to a costume designer, they first analyze the play and then analyze the characters. There is a great deal of psychology used in a costume designer’s work when trying to design for a certain character. The writer sometimes gives an idea as to what they want to see but even then it is up to the designer to figure out exactly what a character needs. There is a reason behind why we put on certain clothes everyday—weather, mood, to impress someone, or the answer could be as simple as a pile of dirty laundry. As the costume designer for She Kills Monsters, I have done research to create both the gaming world according to Dungeons & Dragons as well as the reality set in the 1990s. My poster presentation will show my designs and how I arrived at them through research and will also talk about the kind of research a costume designer does.

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  Urban Ground Covers Influence Soil Characteristics and Beetle Communities in Riparian Zone

  Anthony Calder, Ryan Atkins, Vashti Devi B Mahadeo, and Weixing Zhu

  Riparian zones are terrestrial habitats adjacent to rivers or streams that frequently undergo environmental fluctuation and offer unique ecosystem services. Previous research has shown that varying ground cover due to urbanization can lead to adverse effects on soil quality and arthropod abundance. This experiment investigates ground cover effects on arthropod communities, soil pH, and conductivity. The ground covers examined in this experiment were control, litter addition, litter removal, and grass addition. Forty plots were constructed in October 2020 in an urban riparian forest within Binghamton University’s Nature Area. Ground arthropods were collected in June, July, and September of 2021 while soil was collected in July and October. Ground arthropods were collected using twenty-four-hour wet pitfall traps and then counted and identified to order and family levels. Arthropod groups primarily consisted of spiders, centipedes/millipedes, beetles, springtails, ants, and mites. In June, we found the highest abundance of beetles in the grass addition (11.0 ± 1.6), followed by the removal (9.8 ± 1.7), and lastly the control (8.7 ± 1.1) and the addition (8.7 ± 1.3). The high abundance of beetles in grass treatment may be attributed to the dietary resources added, while the removal plots create an open habitat space. Results also show a difference in pH and conductivity for each treatment when compared to the control. This suggests that differences in microclimates caused by treatments may alter ground arthropods present and soil characteristics.