ikatkov/journal-of-student-research-hs-articles huggingface dataset:
Inhibiting STAT3 and Activating TLR Against Tumors With OPSS Liposomes, Curcumin, and TLR Agonists
Authors: Shreya Sujith; Marisabel Ramirez, Keaton Rasic, Max Kullberg, Vani Pillai, Holly Martinson
Date: 03-31-2021

In solid malignancies such as breast cancer, the tumor cells create an immunosuppressive environment through the aid of macrophages. The macrophages become tumor-associated and inhibit a T-cell response critical to removing the cancerous cells. The main signaling pathway responsible for the macrophages’ pro-tumoral behavior is the STAT3 signaling pathway, a subset of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway that prevents the toll-like receptor (TLR) expression. TLRs are essential to the immune system's anti-tumoral response. Therefore, to repolarize the macrophages in from a pro-tumoral to an anti-tumoral form, curcumin (STAT3 inhibitor), and TLR agonists (TLR stimulant) were delivered to a co-culture using complement C3 liposomes (OPSS liposomes). The OPSS liposomes cause macrophages to uptake the liposomes, allowing for targeted drug delivery to macrophages. 4T1 cancer cells and BMDMs were co-cultured and treated with control liposomes containing PBS, OPSS liposomes containing curcumin and TLR agonist, and OPSS liposomes containing TLR agonist. RT-qPCR measured gene expression, and flow cytometry measured protein expression. This study’s results point to the effectiveness of the OPSS liposome, curcumin, and TLR agonist treatment. The combination of curcumin and TLR agonist appear to effectively inhibit the STAT3 signaling pathway and activate the expression of TLR. Future studies should implement the OPSS liposome, curcumin, and TLR agonist treatment in a mouse model and observe for a potential T-cell response.
Systematic optimization of Long Short-Term Memory model for predicting NYSE Arca Airline Index (XAL) during COVID-19
Authors: Sarah Dong; Amber Wang
Date: 03-31-2021

Predicting stock prices has been both challenging and controversial. Since it first spread through the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the stock market in a multitude of ways. Thus, stock price prediction has become even more challenging. Recurrent neural networks (RNN) have been widely used in many fields to predict financial time series. In this study, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), a special form of RNN, is used to predict the stock market direction for the US airline industry by using NYSE Arca Airline Index (XAL). The LSTM model was optimized through changing different hyperparameters of the model architecture to find the best combination for increased accuracy and performance evaluated by several metrics, including raw RMSE (3.51) and MAPA (4.6%), and very high MAPA (95.4%) and R^2 (0.978).
Harnessing Neutrino Energy for a Sustainable Future
Authors: Priyanka Supraja Balaji; Ellen Torres Thompson, Lawrence Edmond IV, Ms.Della Santina
Date: 03-31-2021

There is a growing need for sustainable forms of renewable energy sources that are efficient, and cost-beneficial. Finding such energy sources is one of the critical challenges of the 21st century. This paper focuses on the prospects of using high energy particles abundant in the universe as a solution to the energy crisis faced around the world. The high energy particle studied in this paper is the neutrino.  Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are one-millionth the size of an electron (“How much does a neutrino weigh”, n.d). They are of interest to physicists because they are present virtually everywhere, travel through regular forms of matter, and have exceptionally high energy levels (“What is a Neutrino”, 1999). Neutrinos have ten billion electron volts when traveling freely across space, which is enough energy to break up the nucleus of an atom (“Neutrino Energies”, n.d). Due to their high energy levels and eternal presence, neutrinos are a promising candidate for a renewable energy source. However, due to minimal reactions with other forms of matter, it is difficult to harness their intrinsic energies. A panel that is capable of absorbing neutrinos can potentially produce substantial amounts of heat energy, which can then be converted into electricity.&nbsp;  Energy from neutrinos is a great theoretical alternative and a clean source of energy for our planet and future generations to come. This paper takes another step forward in the mission to produce a primary source of energy that is green and sustainable for our planet.
Analyzing Timbres of Various Musical Instruments Using FFT and Spectral Analysis
Authors: Ellen Jannereth; Lisa Esch
Date: 03-31-2021

A sound’s unique timbre is based on the various harmonic frequencies present within its waveform. Through Fast Fourier Transform software, waveforms can be easily decomposed into their component frequencies and a spectral analysis of frequency can be conducted as a method of quantitatively describing timbral characteristics of a sound. In this investigation, the range of frequencies present in a spectrum as well as the average intensity of the first 10 overtones in a sound will be used to classify the timbres of various instruments relative to one another. This will be done by generating a Range-Intensity graph of harmonic frequencies present in sound samples of each instrument. The results of this investigation reveal that it is not only possible to quantitatively analyze instrumental timbre by generating and mapping out the harmonic frequency data of a specific sound, but that such a quantitative analysis is also incredibly useful. Unlike the traditional, qualitative method of describing timbre, a quantitative analysis would allow for timbral qualities to be transformed into information that can be understood by computers. Today, timbral classification and the decomposition of waveforms has many applications in science and sound engineering. By refining methods for quantitative timbral analysis, it becomes possible to further enhance timbre recognition software and apply such methods to a wider range of technological developments.
Impact of COVID-19 on Arts and Cultural Organizations and Customer Satisfaction with Measures Taken
Authors: Avantika Matele; Arun Gopalakrishnan
Date: 03-31-2021

Due to the dramatic changes that have occurred during the COVID-19 era, there has been a shift of what the consumers of arts and cultural organizations want and what those organizations think their consumers want. The needs of organizations themselves and what the organizations are able to provide have also changed. This paper responds to this problem by examining both sides and analyzing the themes and common practices used by these organizations during COVID-19 and then analyzing feedback from the organization’s consumers on the effectiveness of these practices. This project’s principle aim was to understand the severity of the impact of changes brought on by COVID-19 on different types of arts and cultural organizations with a focus on determining the common struggles for art and cultural NGOs during the COVID-19 crisis and the effectiveness of the measures taken by these organizations to combat COVID-19 from a consumer viewpoint.
Predicting Loan Defaults Using Logistic Regression
Authors: Selena Zhao; Jiying Zou
Date: 03-31-2021

We used anonymized data from a loan company to analyze correlations between loan defaults and other characteristics of loans or borrowers of loans. We performed an exploratory data analysis of the different factors and how they correlated with loan defaults. Using observations made in the EDA, we proceeded to use logistic regression to predict the odds of loan defaults with several loan characteristics as predictor variables. Different models were evaluated and cross-validated using AIC, AUC, and predicted accuracy. Weighted accuracy was also measured because the loan dataset was a stratified sample. We concluded that the interest rate most accurately predicted the odds of a loan default and that the most useful model was both simplistic and accurate. Research was limited by the variables that were not analyzed during EDA, the limited variables the loan dataset contained, and the modeling technique used.
Differences Among Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Memorization Procedures when Children in Upper Elementary Schools are Memorizing a Text
Authors: Julie Beardslee
Date: 03-31-2021

In education, a variety of methods for learning or memorizing content are often used, from reading a passage to listening to a lecture. This plethora of available strategies cause those involved in the educational field to wonder if there is a type of device that helps students best retain information. The study described in this paper determined whether children in the 4th and 5th grade memorize a visual text most effectively when given either a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic strategy. A total of 56 respondents were selected from a local elementary school and divided into three equal groups to memorize as much of a 151-word poem as possible. After students were given 15 minutes to utilize their given device, an assessment was given, during which they had to fill in 15 missing words from the poem they had been assigned. Based on scores from the assessment, this study was able to show that the visual device yielded a higher mean score of 8.5 than either the auditory score of 6.7 and a kinesthetic score of 6.5. A series of t-tests were conducted to conclude that the visual mean produced a p-value of 0.08 against audio and 0.09 against kinesthetic, which is significant at a level of 0.10. This evidence suggests that when young children are assigned the task of memorizing a short passage, visual devices may be the most optimal choice.
The Puerto Rican Economic Challenges and Alternatives: A Review of Recent Literature
Authors: Teddy Torres; Jose Caraballo
Date: 03-31-2021

The decline of Puerto Rico’s economy has been inextricably linked to the federal government’s phasing out and ultimate elimination of tax incentives that made it attractive for U.S. companies to establish operations on the island. One unsurprising consequence of these tax incentives is that they made the economy heavily dependent on both U.S. policies and the actions of U.S. companies. Thus, when the federal government repealed the incentives, including the well-known section 936, a major economic decline on the island was virtually inevitable, particularly in the absence of any alternative program to fill the vacuum left by the departure of U.S. firms. The consequence has been the creation of crippling debt, sky-rocketing unemployment, and the reversal of economic growth. The historical problems with the island’s fragile and outdated energy sector and power grid -- which are heavily dependent on expensive, imported fossil fuels, has been exacerbated by the economic decline.&nbsp; One viable solution in this critical sector is a transition to clean renewable energy, which would spur economic growth by increasing employment and enabling reduction of the debt.&nbsp; Execution of such a strategic option, however, is compromised by Puerto Rico’s status as a commonwealth rather than a U.S. state or independent sovereign state.&nbsp; Any long-term, meaningful reforms or programs for economic development are thus largely dependent on resolution of the status issue, which requires a decision by both the U.S. Congress and the people of Puerto Rico to determine on statehood or independence.&nbsp;
Procrastination in Upper School Female Students at a New York City Private School Before and During the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2019
Authors: Chloe Padilla; Elaine Pan
Date: 03-31-2021

Procrastination can affect some people in negative ways (Tice 1997). Teenagers are vulnerable to the detrimental effects of procrastination as they learn to manage school-life balance (Reinecke 2018). The coronavirus pandemic led to virtual education and less extracurricular activities, inadvertently increasing teens’ unscheduled home time and possibly altering procrastination habits. There is little research about the pandemic’s effects on teenagers’ education habits and the extent to which teenagers’ procrastination habits have been affected. Teenagers’ procrastination levels would need to be determined before and during the pandemic. This study was conducted to help educators develop strategies to help teenagers manage school-life balance and decrease procrastination during the pandemic. This study reviewed the frequency of students’ procrastination levels before and during the COVID-19 outbreak based on the “percentage of time passed when assignments were submitted between time they were assigned at The Chapin School. 392 samples were collected and analyzed using the Chi-Square statistical test. The p-value of 0 was lower than the alpha of 0.01, with a confidence level of 99%. The alternative hypothesis that the level of procrastination in teenagers has decreased as a result of the coronavirus pandemic was accepted with 99% confidence. The collected data seemed to support the alternative hypothesis before analysis due to the differences in the frequency of the levels of procrastination before and during the pandemic. The results found in this study show educators that the new virtual platforms and schedules implemented during quarantine may have decreased the amount of procrastination in students.
Early Prediction of Alzheimer’s Disease with a Multimodal Multitask Deep Learning Model
Authors: Nitin Seshadri; Dr. Serena McCalla, Rishi Shah
Date: 03-31-2021

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and the most common neurodegenerative disease in adults over 65. Early-stage AD is often misinterpreted as normal cognitive aging because it may not cause adverse symptoms or visible behavioral changes for up to 20 years. Machine learning has been used to avoid misinterpretation of data and more accurately predict the onset of AD. This study aims to use the data typically available in a clinical setting to predict the onset of AD while maintaining a high level of accuracy. This study proposes a deep learning model that uses multimodal input data and performs multitask classification to predict AD diagnosis and scores of two commonly used cognitive assessments: Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The model was validated using the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset of 1737 patients. The current model achieved a greater accuracy in predicting AD diagnosis and a lower error in predicting ADAS and MMSE scores than existing state-of-the-art models. This model can be applied to the clinical setting so that accurate diagnosis can be achieved, and appropriate action can be taken. Future investigations could include using a convolutional neural network (CNN) to process data from clinical images directly or training and validating the model with other clinical datasets to further improve its accuracy.
A Computational Analysis on Nicotine Withdrawal and Cardiac Arrhythmia and Their Effects on COVID-19
Authors: Ayaan Haque, Aryaman Kukal, Yamuna Rao, David Cho; Keshav Rao
Date: 03-31-2021

Certain chronic conditions are becoming increasingly ignored due to the magnitude of COVID-19. However, continued research on these conditions, such as nicotine addiction and heart disease, and how they relate to COVID-19 will help researchers assess case severity more adequately. It has been commonly asserted that smoking cessation will reduce COVID-19 mortality rates for smokers due to how it damages the lungs. However, smoking cessation results in nicotine withdrawal, which is proven to cause side effects that could conversely increase the severity of COVID-19. This study aims to determine how nicotine withdrawal increases the probability of developing cardiac arrhythmia, and how that relationship increases COVID-19 mortality rates. To conduct our study, we compiled datasets from various health organizations, including the CDC and WHO, to find correlations between these three conditions. We first investigated the complications that result from nicotine withdrawal and how they may develop into cardiac arrhythmia. Following initial inquiries, we then calculated how cardiac arrhythmia increases COVID-19 mortality rates. To validate our conclusions, we compared smoking cessation rates with COVID-19 mortality rates in different states to isolate direct correlation between the two conditions. We determined that nicotine withdrawal has a 32.7% probability of causing cardiac arrhythmia, and that cardiac arrhythmia increases the chance of death from COVID-19 by 14.7%. Ultimately, we found that nicotine withdrawal increases the COVID-19 mortality rate by 4.8% compared to the general population, a significant and concerning finding.&nbsp;
Correlation Study: CEM Scores and Customer Perception Value in Chick-fil-A Teterboro from 2018-2019
Authors: Amanda Feliciano
Date: 03-31-2021

The monitoring of customer service experiences for fast food restaurants has been on the rise for past three decades because of technological advances. Having access to the current features helps businesses determine what factors to consider for improving their company. There has been research done on research chains such as Chipotle, Subway, KFC, Dairy Queen, and Taco Bell. Each restaurant focuses on similar factors, but there has been little to no research done on the fast food restaurant, Chick-fil-A regarding CEM scores and customer perception. Chick-fil-A is an extremely well known fast food place known to have outstanding customer service because of their overall politeness and fast service. This study aims at looking into one specific Chick-fil-A location in Teterboro, New Jersey, which is known to be in the top 20% of Chick-fil-As in the United States. This research study used stratified sampling in order to conduct a Spearman Correlation Analysis that answered the research question, “Is there a correlation between 4 main components of customer service and an effect on the customer service environment in Chick-fil-A Teterboro, from the years 2018-2019?” Results concluded there were only two direct correlations between two components. The two factors that had the highest correlation with one another were Overall Customer Satisfaction levels and the Attentive/ Courteous component in connection to the overall value of the customer service environment.
The Great Leap Backward: A Feminist Analysis of Chinese Famine Politics from 1958-1961
Authors: Elaine Cheng; Elizabeth Schmidt
Date: 03-31-2021

This paper revisits the causes and impacts of the deadliest famine in human history––the Great Chinese Famine––through a feminist lens. Mao Zedong and a male-dominated Communist Party led China into famine after its failed Great Leap Forward industrialization campaign in 1956. During the famine, Chairman Mao’s feminist slogans and state programs to promote gender equality were ineffective at best, and counterproductive at worst. We built the foundation of our analysis on primary sources, including oral histories from a broad demographic of civilians and cadres living throughout mainland China. We also incorporated archival research of reports, speeches, and writings of Communist leaders. To bolster our understanding of gendered experiences during the Great Famine, we interviewed both surviving civilians and Communist party members. During the famine, we found that women bore new double burdens, had their political interests marginalized, and witnessed their labor systematically devalued. In retrospect, China's patriarchal government, built off Chairman Mao's cult of personality, gained unchecked power over women during the famine and abused it.
What is the correlation between men’s perceptions of traditional luxury factors and price for Air Jordan UL sneakers?
Authors: Nikolaos Diamantopoulos; Daniel Olivo, Mathew Dalzell, Norina Sfeir
Date: 03-31-2021

In the field of luxury goods, the factors of brand value and flashiness are seen to increase the value of traditional luxury goods. No research has been conducted to understand this relationship in unorthodox luxury sneakers. These sneakers command high resale prices in comparison to base models. This research analyzes the correlational relationship between perceptions of these factors in unorthodox luxury sneakers and their price. A survey conducted on US adult males was used to obtain perceptions, and prices were taken from multiple resale sites. The averaged values were then put through a Pearson Correlation test. For both factors, there was little to no relationship found and a statistically insignificant P-value. However, the results completely contradicted previous research regarding luxury goods and what factors derive their value. With this, the knowledge can be tested on a larger scale with a broader population to see if the trend continues. If so, this new knowledge could greatly affect the information available to firms and thus have a direct impact on future business strategy formulation, specifically in the UL sneaker market.
COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges among rising high school seniors, Class of 2021 and effect on stress regarding college admissions
Authors: Sarab Anand; Dr. Triptish Bhatia
Date: 03-31-2021

The high school Class of 2021, already facing challenges of their stressful junior year has had multiple changes to their academic routines, athletic &amp; extracurricular opportunities and standardized testing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With the lockdown, it is also facing unprecedented changes in the college admissions process.&nbsp;  This study was undertaken as a survey of rising seniors in US high schools to understand handling of academic challenges, students’ stress regarding college admissions, changing landscape of the application cycle and attitudes towards strength of applications due to the pandemic. Survey was designed on google forms and was circulated among rising seniors through social media and snowballing methods. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.&nbsp;  A total of 331 students responded, majority were females, white and from public schools. Significant stress regarding college admissions was reported by students (63.6%) before pandemic and increase in stress (72.3%) afterwards. About 75% had already taken ACT/SAT, the majority was not satisfied with their scores but 90% planned to re(take) despite colleges declaring a test optional process. 60% of participants with change in summer plans and 70% of students&nbsp;unable to visit colleges reported increase in stress. Level of access correlated with perceived support from&nbsp;college counselors (r=0.677) and uncertainty regarding financial aid and athletic scholarships contributed to stress.&nbsp;  Two broad themes emerged while studying COVID-19 related increase in stress levels and factors contributing to that change: uncertainty about one’s own application strength and stress due to changes in institutional policies.  &nbsp;  &nbsp;  &nbsp;  &nbsp;  &nbsp;