Follow

• 

  Facing a Modern International Issue: The Politics of Biological Warfare in the United States and Korea

  James Kang

  Biological warfare, which is the deliberate release of infectious toxins or organisms that cause diseases, has historically been a major issue that the international community has strived to resolve. By analyzing peer-reviewed journals and pre-modern documents, this research project challenges the effectiveness of pre-established policies and collaborative efforts to prevent the development and usage of biological warfare. The modern perception of biological warfare is misinterpreted because it has adapted different connotations compared to its origins. The project will engage in a historical examination of the Biological Weapons Convention and historization of major political events, such as the Korean War, to analyze how biological warfare has been characterized and how the policies have been introduced. Reflecting and revisiting the modern biological warfare narrative through inspection of its historical role along with its policies will establish an understanding that biological warfare is a modern issue and must be resolved in new terms.

• 

  The Effect of Dietary Patterns & Mental State

  Brendan Kemp, Emily La, Tais Kouznetski, and Rebecca Piccigallo

  The most common forms of mental disorder treatment include therapy, medication and physical activity. However, it is not quite as common to look at dietary habits to improve mental health. An anonymous online survey was administered through a google form. The survey included questions on the individuals general demographic, diet parameters, and various aspects of their mental health and mood states. There is an association between positive mood states and a healthy dietary pattern. Through the results that were obtained via the survey, it is concluded that there is a correlation between a healthy, balanced diet and a positive mental state.

• 

  Coffee: An Ersatz Community

  Emilio Kershner

  In our capitalist society, businesses exist to maximize profit, and they do so with myriad marketing techniques. One of these, the ersatz community, is a false kinship between people who have little in common beyond their consumption habits and is a replacement for real communities built on interpersonal relationships. The coffee industry, beloved by many for providing a miracle drink to keep them from feeling the limits of their mortal bodies, uses this tactic to great effect: it allows consumers to be part of not just the coffee drinking community but also communities built upon brand recognizability, homogeny, elitism, and convenience, all pillars of consumerist society. Members of these communities take solace in being one of millions but have no true ties to their fellows. The drive to consume in the faithful adherents to capitalism ties them to the idea that consumption can fill the hollow voids of their souls. Especially the idea of “sustainability,” all-encompassing yet meaningless, says that consuming is the only way to save the world. This research reveals the ersatz communities used by the coffee industry, and their connection to the infinite capitalist drive for consumption.

• 

  Comparing the Impact of Cultural Factors on Mental Health Help-Seeking Among Chinese and Other Asian Background College Students with Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety

  Kim Kim, Eileen Barden, and Christina Balderrama-Durbin

  A cross-sectional survey of 204 Asian and Asian-American students at Binghamton University, including 103 students of Chinese descent and 101 students from other Asian backgrounds, was conducted through SONA. This study aimed to investigate the perceived support and cultural barriers faced by Asian and Asian-American college students experiencing depression and anxiety symptoms. The study found that depression and anxiety symptoms were significantly correlated with cultural stigma and barriers to seeking mental health treatment. Interestingly, perceived family support demonstrated a significant negative association with depression and anxiety symptoms, whereas perceived friend support was not correlated. The study suggests there is a need to reduce barriers and stigma to mental health services including making culturally sensitive adaptations. Future studies would benefit from a larger and more generalizable sample as well as the use of qualitative data to better understand the perceived cultural barriers to mental health encountered by Asian American college students.

• 

  The Misinformation Pandemic––How Politicians, Commentators, and Extremist Groups Used Social Media to Infect America

  Emily King

  My research breaks down the relationship between social media algorithms, inflammatory rhetoric, and real-life consequences as they apply to the January 6th Capitol Riots. In the weeks after the 2020 Presidential Election, conspiracy theories about electoral fraud spread rapidly in online spaces, eventually materializing into a physical attack to disrupt the Electoral College vote count. In the wake of this assault on democracy, analysis of social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook revealed inept moderation systems and aggressive promotional algorithms. Politicians, commentators, and extremist groups took advantage of the underlying structure of widely used social media platforms to urge Americans to “stop the steal,” often with threatening and violent rhetoric to appeal to basic emotions like anger and fear.

• 

  Correlation Between Fruits and Vegetables and Mood

  Faith King, Kristian Ingebrigsten, Roy Jacobson, and Lanygah Jackson

  The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between fruit and vegetables consumption and mental well-being. Soluble fiber positively affects the gut microbiota, which has an impact on mood. However little is known about the impact of eating fruits and vegetables on mood. An anonymous online survey was administered through a variety of social media platforms. The survey included basic demographic questions and questions on dietary practices. Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to analyze data in SPSS version 25.0. Findings suggest an increase in fruits and vegetables corresponds with an increase in better mood. Our results suggest there is an association between a healthier diet and increased mood. This strong connection can be attributed to the positive effect on the gut microbiota from ingesting soluble fiber.

• 

  Diet and Mood

  Hope King, Lydia Ochla, Nagama Kistoo, Suraj Sajnani, and Anthony O'Donnell

  Recent studies showed a link between nutrient consumption and mental health. To study the effects of diet on mood, an anonymous online survey was administered through iMessage, social media, and email. The survey included basic demographic questions and questions on dietary pattern, consumption of certain foods, supplement use, and mood. The Western diet consists of a large amount of trans fats. Since trans fats have been linked to increased anxiety and depression in previous studies, this may affect mood in a negative way. Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to analyze data in SPSS version 25.0. There is a correlation between mood such as depression and anxiety, and diet quality. These findings suggest that modulating diet and limiting processed foods may improve mood significantly. Perhaps adding components of the Mediterranean diet will be beneficial to mood due to the abundance of essential vitamins and minerals present.

• 

  Investigating the Relationship between Learning Styles and Teaching Methods for Enhanced Retention of STEM Course Information Among University Students

  Nathaniel Klayman and Nevin Mathew

  In order to establish the highest level of retention, one must understand what teaching methods are most beneficial. With knowledge about productive learning styles, professors can provide experiences leading to better procurement of information, skills, and concepts (Pritchard, 2018). The purpose of this study was to examine the association between university students’ learning styles and teaching methods within a STEM course. An online, 40-question qualtrics survey was designed, utilizing questions from the Modality Survey (O’Brien, 1985). Data shows a positive association between specific learning styles and learning outcomes, such as kinesthetic learners performing better in a lab setting. The implications behind this research pertain to how teaching methods in STEM courses may support retention of course information through attending to student’s learning styles.

• 

  Capitalization of Cultural Identities within Football

  Axel Larsson

  Football (soccer) has been a means for creating a sense of belonging through the "Us vs Them" rhetoric via laborers’ contempt for their bosses. This was evident in the inception of football clubs in the late 1800s; the steel-factory workers of Sheffield United vs the local elites of Sheffield Wednesday, the Glaswegian Irish-Catholics of Celtic playing against their protestant oppressors in Rangers, or the colonial administrators’ and local aristocracy’s club Zamalek vs Al-Ahly, founded by the people of Cairo. The struggle of the worker vs capitalist exploitation metamorphosed into regional and familial bonds, which only strengthened the collective identity of the supporter-groups; identities strong enough to encourage sectarian violence and revolutions. When the European football market began hyper-commercializing in the 1990s, massive heaps of money were spent by despotic rulers of countries and corporate-conglomerates into clubs in order to capitalize on this influence over individuals for the sake of increasing profits and spreading ideologies through sportswashing. Revenues exploded for all clubs, especially the income of the executives. This encouraged further involvement from capitalist interests and capitalist control over the enormous influence of football, and thus capitalized the product as a sense of belonging.

• 

  Biomarker Assay Development: Urinary Titin in Becker Muscular Dystrophy

  Kimchi Le and Corrine Stahura

  Mutations in a structural muscle protein called dystrophin result in muscle fiber degradation and diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). Such muscle fiber degradation can result in large titin fragments being released into serum and excreted into the urine. Compared to current methods using muscle biopsy and serum collection, our study utilizes urine as a potential non-invasive method for monitoring disease progression in BMD by quantifying urinary titin fragments. This is done through development of an immunoassay based on the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) format using liposomal technology as a method of detection. The development of this platform is expected to provide discrimination between disease severities in BMD patients in hopes to better monitor disease progression and could be used for other muscular dystrophies and cardiomyopathies impacted by titin. Such as titin-related mutations that cause diseases like Emery-Dreifuss, limb-girdle, and tibial muscular dystrophy.

• 

  Facile Synthesis of Pt-Ni-Ru Nanoframes with Superior Performance for Methanol Oxidation Reaction

  Lalo Lezama, Kira Shulman, and Yoora Cho

  The large-scale commercialization of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) depends on the design of state-of-the-art Pt-based anode catalysts with superior catalytic performance toward methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Herein, a facile synthesis of Pt-Ni-Ru nanoframes (NFs) by galvanic replacement reaction of Pt-Ni solid nanocubes (NCs) is reported. The obtained samples are characterized by physical characterization and electrochemical measurements. The results demonstrate that Ru (2wt%) was successfully deposited into the NFs. Furthermore, the Pt-Ni-Ru NFs exhibited a specific activity of 9.50 mA/cm2 and a mass activity of 0.97 A/mgPt.

• 

  Effects of Sudden Removal of High Social Enrichment upon Monoamine Levels in Cortical and Subcortical Structures of the Rat Brain

  Rachel Lichtenstein, Spencer Feehan, and Hailey Robson

  The goal of this study was to evaluate a novel stress-induced animal model in both male (n=28) and female (n=28) Sprague-Dawley rats. Stress was induced during adolescence by exposing the rats to standard social enrichment following a period of high* social enrichment (*frequent handling and playdates with 12 same sex non-cagemates). High Performance Liquid Chromatography was used to evaluate monoamine levels in post-mortem tissue from cortical structures (prefrontal cortex, motor cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex) and from subcortical structures (amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, lateral thalamus, medial thalamus, dorsal striatum, ventral striatum). Overall, results showed that monoamine levels were lower in the rats that experienced a transition from high to standard social enrichment. Better understanding of the neurophysiological consequences of a sudden removal of social enrichment (such as experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic) has important translational value for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

• 

  Effects of Food Insecurity on Academic Motivation Amongst Undergraduate University Students

  Sarah Livshits, Katerina Nagorny, Sabrina Bubis, Ushima Chowdhury, Lexi Rosenberg, and Megan Welch

  Food insecurity is a prevalent problem for undergraduate students. The stress associated with food insecurity may reduce academic motivation, which may be linked to academic performance. However, no reports exist in the literature assessing this relationship. An anonymous online survey targeting adults 18 years or older was distributed via social media platforms. The survey included demographic questions, the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, and the Academic Motivation Scale. Data was analyzed using Pearson’s Correlation Correlation in SPSS Version 25.0. A total of 997 participants completed the survey.The results showed significant negative correlations between academic motivation and food insecurity and stress (p<0.01). Caring about attending college and a household running out of food was negatively correlated (p<0.01). Experiencing stress and being unable to eat healthy and nutritious food (p<0.01) were positively correlated. Overall, food insecurity is linked to a negative state of mind, which may reduce academic motivation.

• 

  Effect of Alcohol on Nutritional Habits and Mental Well-Being

  Liam McKenna, Kaylee Zheng, Wyatt Reksten, Kaitlyn O'Brien, and Lauren Grosz

  Alcoholism is a pervasive disease believed to affect nutritional choices and mental state. This study examined the effects of drinking on diet quality and mood. An anonymous online survey was administered through a Google survey that was distributed on social media platforms. The survey included basic demographic questions and questions aimed at gauging alcohol consumption, nutritional habits, and self perceived mental well-being. Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to analyze data in SPSS version 25.0. There is an association between binge drinking and depressed mental health. In addition, alcohol drinking influences food choices and overall mood after a night of drinking. Future research can further explore the relationship between dietary choices, amount of alcohol, and mental status

• 

  How Capitalism Creates and Profits from Women's Insecurities

  Madison Miller

  Capitalism is defined by the singular motive of profit production. But this profit comes with a price: the degradation of women, a degradation that sustains the profit, or “economic growth,” that capitalism needs to survive. This degradation of women is the root of female insecurities in our capitalist society, but in this environment who really cares about such insecurities so long as the economy is growing, that is, profit is expanding? This research illustrates how capitalism not only creates but also profits from women’s insecurities. This will be explored through the corporate use of media, including advertisements, television, models, and other related outlets. Conveniently, these insecurities can be “fixed” with the almost too perfect products that large corporations produce. These products consist of everything targeted toward women, including makeup, haircare, waist trainers, and dieting supplements, all of which fuel profit from the very insecurities they create.

• 

  Guantanamo Bay - A Legal Black Hole

  Riya Mohan

  Guantanamo Bay set a precedent in the international community, which is that places exist outside the scope of international law. This legislative mess allowed countless detainees to have their rights constantly abused in a place referred to as a legal black hole. Despite the many instruments passed proclaiming that the rights of prisoners must be preserved, the rights of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are continuously violated. This standard has been set by the United States, allowing this state to control a territory that violates the human rights standards this same state claims to preach. There is much hypocrisy at play in this scenario, as The United States has jumped through countless loopholes to prolong this treatment at Guantanamo Bay. This research project will explore how international and national legislation has failed the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and how the ineffective nature of these laws can be prevented in the future.

• 

  Schooling the Proud Boys: The Educational Background of Proud Boy Members at the Capitol on January 6, 2021

  Alex Moon

  The partisan political system has existed in the United States since its founding, and yet the political parties are currently more polarized than ever. Studies show that this intense increase in tension between the left and right wings began with President Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election (Pew Research Center). With Trump’s presidency came the emergence of several far-right militia groups, one of the largest being the Proud Boys. The January 6 insurrection on the Capitol was a climactic demonstration of domestic far-right extremist violence, and over fifty charged participants were members of the Proud Boys. Existing reports tend to characterize the Capitol rioters as largely coherent in their multifaceted prejudices (CPOST). In this report, I investigate the root of these prejudices and misconstrued convictions by looking into the backgrounds of the charged Proud Boys' education.

• 

  The Disproportionate Effect of Diet-Sensitive Chronic Diseases on Food Insecure Individuals in the Northern Tier of Binghamton

  Makenna Moore

  With the intent of discovering the relationship between health-related chronic diseases and food insecurity, this project attempts to correlate cardiovascular health, obesity, and type 2 diabetes with the lack of accessibility to nutritious, affordable food for adult residents on the North Side of Binghamton. National statistics are striking, and Binghamton is no exception. The apparent and detrimental functional limitation resulting from food insecurity draws upon critical issues of social inequality throughout the city, calling for necessary change and imperative initiatives. By developing a greater sense of understanding through several interviews with the CHOW and VINES organization and their executive members, analyses are developed and correlated to the variables in which these urban communities face. Questions that surface throughout this project regarding ethics, equality, and justice emphasize the magnitude to which food and health security play in a community.

• 

  Cruelty and Racism in Missouri's Death Penalty

  Ethan Moskovitz

  Four short years after declaring capital punishment unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia (1972), the US Supreme Court revived the death penalty, affirming its constitutionality in Gregg v. Georgia. Debates over capital punishment typically revolve around its usefulness as a deterrent. However, these debates ignore the human rights violations intrinsic to capital cases in the U.S. This research focuses on the violations that take place in the ways capital punishment convictions are obtained in Missouri and how they are disproportionately sought for defendants of color, inhibiting the right to life, the right to due process, and the prohibition against cruel and unusual treatment. I will also analyze the extent to which the victim's race influences convictions and sentences in St. Louis County and St. Louis City/County, the two Missouri areas with the most capital punishment cases, as well as how the defendant’s race affects time spent on death row.

• 

  Islamic Law and Women in Iran

  Heera Narang

  The death of Mahsa Amini last September kicked off a wave of unrest that persists to this day; Iranians are calling for change, and women’s rights are at the forefront. My research will focus on the role of Islamic law in the changing status of women’s social rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran between the 1979 Revolution and the present day, specifically in regards to family law, access to education and the regime’s mandatory veiling policy. I will discuss both the fundamentalist regime’s use of so-called Islamic principles to justify repressive policies against women and the major arguments used by reformers, nationally and internationally, against those policies. I will also look at to what extent the women’s movement in Iran has been successful in achieving legal reform in the past, and how the causes and rhetoric of today’s protests differ from those of previous reform movements.

• 

  Car Types to Pollution and Health: What’s the Best Option?

  Laiba Nazar

  An extensive amount of air pollution and its impact on climate change are due to chemical emissions like CO2 (carbon dioxide), CO (carbon monoxide), PM 2.5 (particulate matter), and SO2 (sulfur dioxide), which are released from gas and fuel based automobiles that we drive today. This is important because the bad air quality is affecting our health, leading to hospitalizations and bringing us to the point of mortality. However, there are now better options: electric vehicles (EVs). The three types of electric vehicles are PEVs (plug-in), BEVs (battery), and HEVs (hybrid). What truly is the best option? In order to decide, there will be content analysis and correlation studies of quantitative research from data sets to see vehicle contribution to air pollution to health, gas and ICEVs (internal combustion engine vehicles) vs electric vehicles, ICEVs vs HEV vs PHEV vs BEV, and BEVs being the best option. My desired outcome is to prove BEVs the best option and my purpose is to help buyers make the best decision in purchasing a car environmentally and healthwise.

• 

  Theories of Fear: Disinformation, Racism, and the Republican Party

  Chloe Nestro

  In the fall of 2022, the DEA warned parents that fentanyl, a potent, deadly opioid, was being dyed bright colors to entice young children into addiction and overdose. Quickly labeled "rainbow fentanyl," the story was amplified by right-leaning politicians and pundits. Despite overwhelming expert testimonies that children were not being targeted, the story transformed into a narrative about illegal immigrants murdering innocent children. This paper applies the theories of the emerging field of Disinformation Studies to analyze the "rainbow fentanyl" panic. Specifically, I define fear as a central component in disinformation by showing how fear 1) shapes, mobilizes, and socializes a base; 2) obstructs logical decision making, leaving individuals open to manipulation; and 3) motivates the false justification of bigotry. My findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that indicates a covert Republican strategy to operationalize racially divisive, fear-based appeals to win votes.

• 

  Dual Task Cost of Motor and Cognitive Performance in Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease

  Jessica Neuner, Gurpreet Singh, and Vipul Lugade

  Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by both motor, non-motor symptoms, as well as cognitive changes. Given the background of this disease, and the impact external stimulation has on exacerbating symptoms, it is hypothesized that (1) verbal fluency dual task walking conditions will be associated with slower gait speed, and (2) verbal fluency tasks performed in sitting will yield faster and more accurate response rates than walking verbal fluency tasks. To evaluate motor performance, participants were asked to ambulate at their self-selected speed for 3 ST and 3 DT trials across a 10m walkway. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to identify differences between the ST & DT conditions for both motor and cognitive performance. The results indicate that in individuals with PD, the accuracy and quantity of responses decrease, which may jeopardize their ability to effectively perform multiple tasks. The heterogeneous nature of the subjects might indicate providing individualized interventions.

• 

  Relationship Between Binge Drinking, Food Restriction, and Mental Health in College Students

  Sabrina Ng, Emma Gardner, Katelyn Decker, and David Wang

  Binge drinking is a prevalent problem among college students and it is impacting many aspects of lives. This study focuses on the detriments of binge drinking on college students’ nutrition and mental health. An anonymous online survey was administered through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Discord. The survey included basic demographic questions and questions on frequency of drinking, eating habits while drinking, typical daily food consumption, and mental-well being. Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to analyze data in SPSS version 25.0. There is an association between binge drinking, food choices, and mental health among college students. Because of the effects of binge drinking, it is important to be conscious of drinking habits to protect physical and mental health.

• 

  The Impact of Youth on Coerced Confessions

  Mike Nocera

  In the 1950s, psychologist and former police officer John E. Reid changed the course of police work when he developed the Reid Technique for interrogation. The Reid Technique, primarily focused on intimidation, aggression, and observation of suspect behavior, is considered the gold standard in police interrogation and still remains a cornerstone of our modern legal system. However, due to this prominence, it has largely been subjected to scrutiny by scholars, who now assert that the Reid Technique practices are overly aggressive, inaccurate, and encourage wrongful convictions. The aggressive nature of the technique seems to have an extremely dangerous effect of eliciting coerced confessions from younger offenders, especially, likely due to their inexperience and mental immaturity. This study will cover reports of human psychology in regards to interrogations, as well as studies of notable cases in which false confessions obtained, but the offender was later exonerated.