Studying primate diets is fundamental to understanding their behavior and ecology. Lemurs in Madagascar face dietary competition with sympatric species that share their habitat. This research focuses on diet selection and comparisons between 4 diurnal lemur species (Indri indri, Propithecus diadema, Hapalemur griseus, Eulemur fulvus) in the Analamazaotra Reserve in Eastern Madagascar, between November and December 2022. Each day, one single lemur group was followed and their diets were identified. Dietary overlaps were calculated for each species. I. indri had the smallest dietary range and shared 50% of its dietary items with E. fulvus and P. diadema. E. fulvus and P. diadema had approximately equal amounts of overlapping diets. I. indri and H. griseus were found to have no shared diets between them. P. diadema was found to have a significantly different diversity of plants consumed daily compared to I. indri (p=0.004, Df=17) and H. griseus (p=0.002, Df=17). The other species did not show significant differences amongst each other. Dietary data on lemurs can be used to develop conservation strategies for endangered and critically endangered species.

 Our project focuses on developing a program that utilizes Prolog programming language and its natural language processing libraries to provide navigational assistance by determining the user’s current location. We will explore various aspects of Prolog programming such as mapping, location alignment, and solving navigation problems using facts and rules. The PySwip library will be integrated with Python to showcase the program’s capabilities. By designing and implementing the program, we will demonstrate the value of the Prolog programming language’s integration with other languages, such as Python, and its potential to solve complex problems that require logical reasoning and advanced decision-making. Ultimately, this project has the potential to benefit a wide range of users by providing them with a navigational tool that employs the latest advancements in programming language integration and natural language processing.

 My presentation is based on my environmental studies capstone project. Over the course of my studies at Beloit College, I have become very interested in city planning and design, particularly in public spaces. I will examines the role sidewalks play in building the character of a city, and what power they hold to spark equitable change through increasing casual interactions between organisms. Sidewalks offer a glimpse into a city’s methods for managing the effects of trauma, framing mobility, and acknowledging its legacies of colonialism as well as its relationship to the land it occupies.

 Through the case study of a block in the ancestral territory of the Coastal Chumash known as Micqanaqa’n (also known as the Mission Historic District in Ventura, CA), this paper conducts a theoretical exercise to prepare possible interventions that encourage casual encounters. These interventions are determined by incorporating evidence from the author’s own upbringing, field notes, interviews, and research on historic and contemporary Chumash values. My analysis shows that the people´s lack of engagement with the Mission Historic District reflects the way Ventura regards its own history, vulnerable populations, and pedestrians.

 Interventions utilizing Chumash ethnobotany and tactical urbanism have the potential to disrupt the narrative of degradation and danger that the block has carried for decades. These interventions could draw various organisms to the block, increase attendance at the museums available which contain historical information about Chumash life, and could create spaces where contemporary Chumash individuals feel represented.

 While this theoretical exercise investigates a problem within urban planning, it is important to note that all infrastructural changes are done collaboratively with multiple actors. This paper was written by one person for the purpose of the author to examine their own path dependency and limitations in generating a proposal for community stakeholders. Clark is a settler/scholar and the interventions generated in this paper are guided by Indigenous voices available through research which does not replace speaking with and listening to the Chumash community in person.

 In this research project, we assess the impacts of Career Channels on the class of 2025 with a particular focus on domestic minority student groups. We anticipate that Career Channels will positively impact students’ outcomes, especially within domestic minority student demographic groups, because it exposes students to career exploration and experiential learning early in their education. We posit that the awareness and understanding of Integrated Learning Outcomes, utilization of Career Channels, and the employment of ILOs in class or on campus are predictors of students’ participation in high-impact practices in the near future. Our overarching question is: What effect does Career Channels have on student retention and students’ participation in high impact practices/out-of-classroom experiences such as job shadowing, internships, research, campus employment, study abroad, and volunteering, particularly within the domestic minority student demographic groups? Since the Class of 2025 is the second student cohort that will fully experience the Career Channels program, this project will build our capacity for outcomes assessment into the program’s foundation as it relates to the retention and engagement in high-impact practices of domestic minority students.

 The Beloit College Urban Forest consists of a wide variety of trees of different species, ages, and condition. Prior to this project, the last formal documentation of the trees found on Beloit College campus was completed in the late 1990s. However, no care plan was created and the state of many trees on campus remains unclear. Over the last three semesters the trees on campus were surveyed and compiled into a map created by Mikaila Davis and a Tree Policy Plan created by Emmalynn May. This map and policy will serve as guides to the Beloit College campus, facilities, and grounds departments.

 Over application of nitrogen fertilizer can lead to leaching and eutrophication in runoff waters, which can result in negative human health and environmental impacts. Manure, as a sustainable source of nitrogen fertilizer, is readily available in North Carolina due to large numbers of swine, dairy, and poultry farms. The goal of this study was to determine if growers can reduce inorganic nitrogen applied to fields with a history of manure application and to determine if potentially mineralizable nitrogen could be an indicator of nitrogen needs in manured soils of North Carolina. The research analyzed the amount of potentially mineralizable nitrogen in soils collected from fields across North Carolina with long manure application histories (minimum of 5 years). The research was conducted as an incubation study extracting inorganic nitrogen from soil at various dates over the 28 day incubation period to determine rates of change. Samples were analyzed using a Lachat flow injected colorimeter for concentrations of ammonium and nitrate. The rate of nitrogen mineralization increases rapidly over the first week of incubation. The final 3 weeks show a more gradual increase in nitrogen mineralization. The nitrogen mineralized over the course of 28 days is enough nitrogen to supply at least 60% of the economically optimal nitrogen available for crop uptake. Additionally, no statistical difference appeared between manure types used for fertilization.

 Pannexin 1 (Panx1) is an ATP release channel that has important roles in inflammation, cellular migration, pain, and epilepsy. While posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of Panx1 have emerged as an important step in the channel’s activation mechanism, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We recently discovered using mass spectrometry and western blot that palmitoylation occurs at cysteines C40 and C347 through DHHC7, a member of the major class of acyltransferase enzymes known as the DHHCs. Evaluation of Panx1 point mutants C40S and C347S, which prevent depalmitoylation, indicates that palmitoylation acts to close the channel. We therefore hypothesize that DHHC7 can act on Panx1 to silence the channel through palmitoylation at cysteines C40 and C347. To test this hypothesis we co-expressed DHHC with Panx1 to determine if the channel is silenced as assessed by a cell-based optical readout of channel activity. We also tested the ability of DHHC to silence voltage-activated Panx1 currents using whole-cell voltage clamp. We found a DHHC7-dependent suppression of Panx1 activity in both experiments. These results suggest that DHHC palmitoylation is a novel pathway by which Panx1 activation is modulated.

 My research paper explored the ethics of limited representation in clinical research. To do this I first described what clinical research entails and what the current empirical data says about representation in clinical research. Then, I analyzed the empirical data from an ethical perspective, specifically from consequentialist and non-consequentialist perspectives. Based on my analysis I argue that limited representation in clinical research is a serious moral problem from both the consequentialist and non-consequentialist moral frameworks. In this presentation I will share a concise version of my findings and argument.

 Interface-coupled dissolution-precipitation (ICDP) is a model for mineral replacement that involves precipitation along a fluid interface. In the conventional two-step model, a parent mineral dissolves entirely before a replacement precipitates. However, during ICDP dissolution and precipitation occur simultaneously. ICDP is a mechanism for mineral replacement during metasomatism, the process by which rocks and minerals are altered via interaction with a reactive fluid. ICDP is a potentially widespread process for mineral replacement throughout the Earth’s crust. As such, identifying ICDP has broad geologic implications, particularly for understanding patterns of crustal deformation.

  This project examined the reaction mechanisms that took place during low-T K-metasomatism of ash-flow tuffs found in Creede, Colorado. An initial review of these samples showed they contain feldspar crystals that display a variety of distinct zoning patterns, suggesting the occurrence of ICDP. Some of the zoning patterns show fluctuation between original and replacement minerals. Others show variation in the cathodoluminescence (CL) color of replacement material that suggests changes in the composition of the metasomatizing fluid.

  To further characterize mineral replacement in the Creede samples, this study compared images made using two techniques. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was performed via scanning electron microscopy at Northwestern University. The resulting data were compared with existing CL images at Beloit College. This provided a detailed view of crystallographic orientations, porosity, and elemental composition.

 The evidence gathered suggests that patchy and concentric zoning patters are the result of ICDP in the Creede samples. It also demonstrates that other methods of feldspar replacement, including overgrowths, were locally important. This research provides an example of an environment in which ICDP can occur, and how it can be identified.

 Rural-track medical education programs have successfully placed a majority of their graduates into rural areas for decades. They have proven to be a far more efficient way to meet rural needs than unfocused expansion of medical class sizes. However, they have been unable to increase the percentage of their graduates in rural practice much above 50%, and the rural physician shortage has not improved for decades. This paper discusses the effects of socioeconomic status, rural origin, prestige, debt, and exposure on the outcomes of rural-track programs. This paper adds to the understanding of current rural-track outcomes by analyzing data on the Rural Medical Education Program at the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Rockford. Recommendations are made for avenues for future research into how debt, socioeconomic status, prestige, and exposure affect outcomes of the RMED program and similar rural-track programs.

 Aimé Césaire reworks the original plot of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest to form a critique of colonialism. However, despite radical changes to the story, Césaire continues the misogynistic storylines, even knowingly using it to support his own message. My research examines how misogyny affects the women in the story and how both authors’ varying views on race and colonialism affect those storylines. This research focuses primarily on Sycorax, due to her unique role as a Black woman, and the differing impact that her absence has on the texts. In addition, I look into how both Shakespeare and Césaire approach the relationship of white women and Black men, including the complications of the rape accusation against Caliban. Overall, this presentation is about how both versions of the same story reduce women to narrative tools and silence what could have been vital voices.

 Medical Image Segmentation is one of the standard starting points for predicting any disease and preparing for higher procedures in the medical field. Before, we used CNN for the classification of CT Scans and MRI, which required extensive data augmentation and a large dataset to identify detailed spatial relations between image instances. Therefore, Capsule Networks have shown potential in various medical image segmentation tasks due to their ability to learn better representations by replacing pooling layers with dynamic routing and convolutional stride. This paper proposes a modified architecture of the capsule network, called the Pooling Convolutional Capsule Network, which utilizes new routing techniques to improve competition between lower and higher-level capsules. This architecture incorporates ResNet as a CNN backbone, capsule-based saliency segmentation, accurate feature extraction using pre-trained VGG-16, and an improvised Whale Optimization Algorithm to increase efficiency. By doubling the types of capsule instances in COVID-19 image segmentation, the proposed method offers an efficient solution for the classification of small datasets, such as lung cancer’s histologic image classification, and other biomedical and normal classifications. Capsule Networks hold promise for the efficient classification of small datasets, and this proposed method can be extended to other medical image segmentation tasks.

 Brain tumor segmentation is a crucial task in biomedical imaging and diagnostic radiology, as it assists doctors and radiologists in accurately detecting and delineating the tumor sub-type. Manual segmentation is time-consuming, rigorous, and prone to errors, and therefore, there is a need for automated segmentation methods. The U-Net model is a fully convolutional network designed for biomedical image analysis that has shown promising results in brain tumor segmentation. However, downsampling at the last encoder layer leads to a loss of spatial information and degrades model performance. To overcome this limitation, in this paper we propose a modified last encoder layer with a residual unit and a custom-tailored dice loss function. Our 3D U-Net model achieves precise segmentation and overcomes the constraint on input image size, making it suitable for the analysis of brain tumors with a small number of training images. The proposed method has the potential to improve the accuracy of brain tumor segmentation and assist doctors in monitoring the progression of the tumor and planning for treatment.

 The world has witnessed a substantial increase in both supply and demand for the educational technology products market, especially after the outbreak of COVID-19. Many new technologies have been found, developed, and applied to the variations of e-learning products.

 Recently, AI adaptive e-learning products which include advanced technology and specific pedagogy techniques have been introduced and released throughout many countries in Asia, especially China. This research will investigate the promising impact of AI adaptive e-learning platforms – SquirrelAI – on Chinese K–12 students. There are many factors contributing to the successful implementation of this online platform including the high expectations for Gaokao (the college-entrance exam), the urgency of having equal educational resources distribution in a large country, and intensified market competition.

 Over this semester I have worked with Professor Taylor Arhar to troubleshoot the expression of the E. coli chaperone protein CbpA.

 I will explore the purpose of the protein CbpA in E. coli and the original research goal and then explore my part of the puzzle and how I have contributed to the furthering of this research.

 The protein was not growing in concentrations high enough to complete research effectively, so this semester I have worked to go through the entire procedure, changing variables to see if it would increase expression. In this presentation I will go through the various variables I changed and how those variables affected the overall expression of the protein. I tested changing the concentration of the IPTG, which induces the expression of the CbpA protein, and I also changed the optical density at which expression is induced.

 Rates of mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety among adolescents and emerging adults have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for adolescents of color. The need for physical distancing resulted in social isolation and stress for many. The current research focuses on how current and previously enrolled college students used music as a self-soothing tool to regulate stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions central to this research are: a) how do college students symbolically identify with artists during the pandemic, and b) what is the relationship between music and mood for college students? The initial predictions were that students would interact with music receptively, identify with artists, and listen based on their priorities and moods. Individual interviews centered on interviewees’ listening habits and ways they interacted with music. The data were analyzed by categorizing participants’ music preferences and their moods. Based on the data collected, participants primarily interacted with music by listening, and listening to music had a positive impact on the participants. Additionally, both participants’ mood and their priorities for how to address the pandemic influenced their listening habits. The research findings are limited due to the small number of research participants, but the research experience has helped me understand the foundation of the role of receptive music therapy in fostering well-being in young adults.

 The Beloit College Urban Forest consists of a wide variety of trees of different species, ages, and condition. Prior to this project, the last formal documentation of the trees found on Beloit College campus was completed in the late 1990s. However, no care plan was created and the state of many trees on camus remains unclear. Over the last three semesters the trees on campus were surveyed and compiled into a map created by Mikaila Davis and a Tree Policy Plan created by Emmalynn May. This map and policy will serve as guides to the Beloit College campus, facilities, and grounds departments.

 Beloit College boasts a collection of fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, CA. The tar pits created a death trap for some of the animals that wandered into them. Any animal that died in the pit would have been an easy target for predators and scavengers who would have also run the risk of getting caught in the pits. These fossils contain a plethora of knowledge that gives insight to the Pleistocene Epoch when these animals lived. Some of the fossils display predation marks including gnaw marks, tooth holes, chipping, and breakage. A data set was created describing the total fossil count along with an examination of the predation marks found on some fossils. These predation marks were scrutinized through the use of microscopic evidence and data from other studies. The predation rates in the Beloit College collection are consistent with studies of other collections. Predator-prey ratios typically display much higher rates of prey than predators, both in modern and geologic settings. The tar pit ratios have a much higher number of predators than would be seen in the true ecologic setting due to the ease of predation that can occur in the pits. Predation rates give insight and proof as to why the number of predators found in the pits far outnumbers that of prey. Both the life history and curatorial history of these specimens give important geologic context for both Beloit College and the greater paleontological community.

 In the summer following my Junior year, I had the wonderful opportunity to be an intern/volunteer with HealthNet of Rock County. HealthNet is a medical organization that provides care to those who do not have health insurance for free or for a very small charge. During my time at HealthNet I was able to observe daily medical consultations, perform didactic work outside of clinic with Dr. Gold, and gain crucial communications skills that are necessary for any persons planning to work in a medical related career.

 Following graduation, I will be volunteering with HealthNet of Rock County again, but this time for a longer term. Prior to this year, I volunteered and shadowed at HealthNet for about 5 months. Luckily, I had a wonderful experience and am happy to be rejoining them for about a year and a half post graduation. In my time at HealthNet last summer I learned so much about care given to those who are underrepresented in healthcare. In my efforts to continue broadening my knowledge I have offered my time as their new volunteer lab phlebotomist. Following graduation, I will be running HealthNet’s entire lab department, taking and testing samples from patients, and communicating results to doctors and nurses. Taking on this position (given that I will be working for free) was a difficult decision for me to make since I will be freshly graduated and nowhere near financially stable. Although difficult, this decision is something that makes me feel even more passionate about my future career in the medical field. Medical care should be available to everyone and HealthNet makes that possible. Not only will continuing to be part of HealthNet’s team be a major stepping stone in broadening my patient interactions but it will allow me to understand cultures, lifestyles, and communities that I may not have experienced throughout my life thus far.

 Actively in development, Next Steps is a transitional living project designed to support young children and their caregivers currently experiencing homelessness transition towards stable housing and self-sufficiency by providing 18 apartments, a 79 unit childcare center and individualized case managed social support services. As a Duffy scholar working with Family Services of Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, I‘ve had the unique opportunity to work with the project from concept to near ground breaking. In this session, I invite you to join me as we: develop a diverse coalition; advocate for $6 million dollars of public and private funding before the County Board, the City Council and individuals; address Not In My Backyard concerns; purchase the old Royce Elementary School, join Beloit College students and the community to clean the property; develop the program and budget; review architectural plans and more. The goals of Next Steps are to work with families and the broader community to reduce generational poverty, childhood trauma and homelessness. Using sociological concepts, I will reflect on the goals and process landing us in the present.

 How can political theory help us navigate contemporary U.S. politics? What can we learn from political theories that can help us become more engaged in the democratic process?

 Political theory is the process of examining politics through a philosophical lens. One of the questions that people may have after seeing this definition is “why are philosophy and politics important?”

 When people hear the word “politics,” they may associate unpleasant experiences with it. In our current society, people frequently do not want to educate themselves about our form of government and believe that the government is corrupt and that it has failed its citizens. While it is important to identify the flaws in our government, we must also identify where they come from.

 Although many believe that we can dismiss politics and go on with our daily lives, that is not the case because politics surrounds us and is not something that should be thought of as irrelevant. Some people also think of philosophy as irrelevant, but that is a misconception because it helps us reason and communicate better with others.

 To demonstrate the importance of being an engaged, active and reflective democratic citizen, I am studying a range of texts in political theory, from the Socratic dialogues to modern scholars like Diana Mutz, Helene Landemore, and Jurgen Habermas. Their theories highlight the importance of ways in which philosophy can be used to further understand politics and how this can improve our understanding of our system of government and beyond.

 This presentation is based on my experience as an intern with The Latin American News Digest during the spring semester of 2023. The Digest is committed to spreading awareness in the US of journalism produced in Latin America by Latin Americans. The Digest picks one student from different institutions every semester to be part of their team and contribute by aggregating and writing condensed versions of news articles found in Latin American news sources, which are written in Spanish or Portuguese. Thus, the interns are also expected to use their translation skills since the Digest is targeted at English speakers. The opportunity of interning with the Digest has expanded my perspectives on Latin American issues in the most varied fields of interest, such as politics, Inter-American relations, society, economy, and much more.

 As a Brazilian student pursuing an International Relations and Economics double major, this experience has given me precious knowledge about Latin America and its dynamics. Besides, my general writing and Spanish skills have greatly improved, as well as my ability to stay tuned with current information and rapid changes in different world scenarios, a basic skill for every global citizen nowadays. In my presentation, I will give more details on how I got involved with this opportunity, what are my responsibilities, and challenges and what are some of the next steps I am getting ready for. Students interested in Latin American issues, looking for an opportunity to improve multiple skills, and wishing to take their first step into the International Relations field, will find my experience helpful.

 The Ancient Romans are commonly cited as a major influence during the writing of the U.S. Constitution, but this connection is rarely investigated. This past fall, I decided to throw myself into researching this connection. During my investigation, I discovered not only deep connections between the U.S. and the Roman Republic in the way they are governed, but also upon common struggles with populism, immigration, and rapidly advancing technology. Despite these striking similarities, Roman authors are rarely, if at all, discussed in political theory here at Beloit and at schools across the country.

 Building upon my research this semester, I am attempting to create a curriculum for a course to be taught here at Beloit that will fill the void of Roman authors in political theory. This class will focus on the cycle of revolutions, populism, and the role of the state in an attempt to show how history can educate our current decisions in policy and government.

 If we wanted to investigate the outcomes of a round robin exchange for a group of n people, an existing model is a Latin square of size n. This mathematical tool, that is similar to a Sudoku puzzle, can be very useful and fun to explore. Malmskog and Haymaker in their 2019 MAA Mathematics Magazine article discuss row complete Latin squares, which satisfy conditions equivalent to modeling a round robin sport tournament in which two teams never face each other twice. Their vast literature review in this article shows different methods to create these row complete Latin squares, drawing concepts from combinatorics, graph theory and group theory. In our work we exploit symmetries and other techniques from graph theory to understand underlying patterns of these mathematical tools. The results of this have been two-fold; creating new methods to construct these row complete Latin squares and attempting to turn this into a Sudoku-like puzzle.

 Data is an invaluable resource to identify challenges and inform strategic planning. Colleges are finding more ways to capture their performances and outcomes, from administrative data offering information about students, to research data on their respective behaviors in many aspects, to smaller survey setups that are conducted every day on campus. But being rich in data is not equal to the ability to capture and utilize their true value. Many departments still use descriptive summaries that lack clarification on how to interpret them correctly with respect to data limitations and ethical concerns. Plain statistics can be more than helpful, however, if we do not communicate well where the data comes from and how to properly translate them into knowledge, we may end up with non-optimal solutions or even misleading conclusions.

 This presentation is an attempt to understand data and its nature. We will take a deeper dive into how student data can be used in a college context by looking at how Beloit College student engagement with Career Works may correlate with their placement fresh out of college. From this, we hope to devise strategic plans to further encourage student interaction with the office and support them better in career preparation.

 The use of the PID controller (Proportional–Integral–Derivative controller) in rehabilitation has gained significant attention in recent years due to its potential to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of rehabilitation processes. PID control is a feedback control mechanism that has been widely used in engineering to regulate systems by adjusting their inputs based on the difference between the desired output and the actual output. The application of PID control in rehabilitation aims to assist individuals in performing exercises accurately and efficiently by providing real-time feedback on their movements. This research paper explores the potential benefits of applying PID control to assist people in rehabilitation. The paper begins by providing an overview of the PID control mechanism and its application in rehabilitation. It then presents a review of relevant studies that have investigated the use of PID control in rehabilitation. The paper also highlights the potential advantages and challenges of applying PID control in rehabilitation, including its potential to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of exercises and its dependence on accurate sensors and feedback systems. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of future research directions in this field and the potential impact of PID control on the field of rehabilitation.

 In this talk I will introduce two Late Modernist poets, Lorine Niedecker (1903-1970), and Anthony Barnett (1941-present), giving a brief overview of their work and situating them within a broader literary and political context.

 Lorine Niedecker (who studied for a brief time at Beloit College) wrote mainly in the surrealist and objectivist traditions, with a significant folk influence. Her poetry is centrally concerned with gender, class, Capitalism, and land ethic. The influence of her contemporaries on British Poetry Revival has been well documented, but a full investigation of Niedecker’s transatlantic reach has yet to be conducted.

 Anthony Barnett is a poet, musician and publisher, living and working in Britain. His role as the editor and publisher of Avant Garde poets is significant - publishing early ’collected works’ of contemporaries whose work was sometimes too ’difficult’ for mainstream press. Barnett’s work is innovative too; short, fragmented, de-narrativised, making frequent use of citation and literary allusion. His work addresses both place and displacement, and the limits of language.

 Through both poets we will think about the ’geography’ of the page, word play/polysemy, and poetic ’deconstruction’ in writing anti-capitalist, and anti-authoritarian lyric. I will give a short reading from my paper to introduce the work of both poets, and to make a brief case for ’difficult’ poetry. For the second half of the session we will write poetry together, using a series of prompts and exercises to explore ideas and techniques central to both poets.

 This presentation examines the process of immigration and the belonging of Mexican immigrants and their descendants, in the twin towns of Sterling and Rock Falls, Illinois. America in the 20th century saw a large influx of Mexican immigrants, especially in the Midwest where many cities were experiencing a boom in manufacturing and industry. These immigrants had significant changes in the communities they moved into, economically, culturally, and demographically. These individuals faced challenges fitting into their new homes, including pressure to assimilate into American culture and avoiding ostracization and mistreatment.

 Taking into consideration data from personal interviews, and publications on the subject, this presentation shows that first-generation immigrants arriving in the Midwest in the 20th century made substantial efforts to assimilate into American society which resulted in their descendants being increasingly “Americanized” and less likely to speak Spanish and identify themselves as being connected to their Mexican heritage while newer immigrants arriving in the 21st century are more likely to speak Spanish and feel connected to their Mexican heritage. Factors as to why this is the case include economic status, family status, public opinion on immigrants, and opportunities to express and celebrate culture.

 The human-computer interaction (HCI) is concerned with the development, assessment, and use of interactive computing systems for human use. By taking into account their needs, capabilities, and preferences, it strives to produce useful, efficient, and rewarding experiences for users interacting with digital technology. The field of HCI is interdisciplinary and includes psychology, computer science, design, engineering, and other related subjects. The ultimate goal of HCI is to enhance the usability, accessibility, and user-friendliness of computer-based systems and applications. Interface design, user experience, usability testing, human factors, cognitive psychology, and interaction design are important areas of HCI research. As technology becomes increasingly common in our daily lives, and with a growing demand for more intuitive interfaces, HCI has become even more crucial.

 The symposium will showcase the results of research exploring different models of immigrant integration conducted during an exchange semester at the University of Sussex. The Swedish model of multiculturalism emphasizes the preservation of cultural diversity, while the German model of assimilation emphasizes the adoption of the host culture. The symposium will highlight the significance of understanding the various approaches to immigrant integration and their implications for immigrant communities and society at large. The presentation will also provide insights into the challenges and prospects associated with the implementation of different integration models, and suggest potential solutions to improve integration outcomes for immigrants in both countries.

 We used Prolog’s several libraries of natural language processing (NLP) in speech recognition such as SemWeb and ProNTo. We also implement the PySwip library to integrate Python with Prolog throughout the project, showcasing its capabilities by creating a fully functional program. We’ll start by designing the program, and then we’ll move onto its implementation. In this project, we have a fully functional program that can assist in determining one’s location. Our project’s outcomes will be of great value to those looking to expand their knowledge of Prolog’s programming language and its integration with other languages such as python.

 This presentation outlines Ben Jonson, his debt to Stoic philosophy and Epictetus specifically beyond the frequently identified Seneca. Over the course of research, this came across in multiple poems, such as “An Elegy on the Lady Jane Pawlet, Marchioness of Winton”. Little existing research has identified Ben Jonson’s connection to Epictetus, despite parallels that are difficult to ignore. This presentation works to remedy the problem and to provide needed scholarship for an underappreciated Shakespearean poet and a Stoic philosopher. The debt is especially noticeable in the wake of ongoing social issues. These may mandate a new outlook on life drawn from those who faced similar adversity in their times with solutions not often considered.

 Mental health services are offered at most if not all institutions of higher learning. Beloit College offers free mental health services to all students through the Health and Wellness Center. Despite the service being provided free of charge, some students may fail to take advantage of them. In the Spring of 2023 students at the college were asked to participate in a survey about mental health services. Participants answered demographic questions about race, ethnicity, and grade level as well as college specific demographics such as participation in sports and Greek life. The next section included a widely used and accepted brief depression and anxiety screening based on Beck’s inventories. The final section focused on experiences with counseling, perceptions of mental illness, and knowledge of the services provided by Beloit College. It was hypothesized that those who scored higher on Beck’s scale would be more inclined to seek out help with their mental health and to utilize it for longer periods. Participants who hold negative views of mental health services were hypothesized to make less use of mental health services compared to those who hold more positive views despite similar scores on Beck’s inventories. attend than those with similar inventory scores. Finally it was hypothesized that the predicted relationship between students with greater need being more likely to utilize the services would be mediated by their overall perception of the services. That is, services are most likely to be utilized only by those with both a greater need and a positive attitude.

 The common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) exhibits temperature-dependent sex determination. While temperature has a major effect on sex determination, genetic factors also influence the sensitivity of developing embryos to different temperatures. For instance, snapping turtle populations at different latitudes have distinct responses to temperature during gonad development. Population differences in TSD pattern imply genetic differentiation. Controlled breeding studies demonstrate significant heritability for sex determination in thermal regimes that produced mixed sex ratios. Data from a prior genome-wide association study revealed highly significant associations between sex determination and loci on several chromosomes, including chromosome 1. DNA was extracted from hatchlings that had been briefly exposed to a female producing temperature for 3, 4, 5, or 6 days but otherwise incubated at a male producing temperature. High resolution melt temperature analysis was used to genotype these hatchlings for a SNP on chromosome 1 (locus 20148572 that was associated with sex in the prior GWAS study. Our results also indicate a significant association between this SNP and sex determination. This SNP is likely to be in linkage disequilibrium with a variant that influences embryo sensitivity to a feminizing temperature at stage 17 of embryonic development. Future experiments should test other loci to more precisely map the sex determining gene in this region on chromosome 1.

 Ecofeminism is a theoretical framework that examines the connections between the oppression of women and the exploitation of the natural world. Through an analysis of Jurassic Park’s narrative and female characters in particular, this presentation will explore how different types of femininity and nature are represented and created, mis/construed, and un/controlled. The research highlighted parallels between the ways that women and nature are treated as objects that only exist to make a profit for and reinforce the power of those who control them. By analyzing Jurassic Park through an ecofeminist lens, this presentation contributes to a broader conversation about the relationship between gender, nature, and power.

 In recent decades, the United States has witnessed a rise of political polarization. It has also seen an increased use of negative campaigning and attack advertisements. The rise of negative campaigning, therefore, correlates to a more politically hostile and polarized electorate. Previous research mainly focuses on how negative campaigning affects voter behavior, such as candidate favorability. Researchers, then, acknowledge that their findings may have an association with political polarization. Hence, research focusing on the causal relationship between negative campaigning and polarization is limited. We use survey data taken from a representative sample collected by Lucid to assess how negative campaigning affects polarization. We find that negative campaigning does not significantly increase polarization, but rather may create a "backlash" effect against the sponsor. A concluding discussion considers the implications these findings have on the American electorate, as well as how this paper can add to the literature to encourage progress towards easing political polarization.

 Climate change is promoting more extreme weather and affecting atmospheric circulation patterns, but in uncertain ways. One circulation pattern often associated with extreme rainfall is a "cut-off low" (COL), a low-pressure unit that is cut off or removed from the prevailing jet stream winds and thus relatively stagnant. The research project will focus on applying Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and image processing algorithms to develop an automatic detection of important patterns such as COL, Cutoff Low (COH) and Close Low (CL). The data used in the project consist of multiple realizations of existing climate model output of circulation patterns for simulated past (colder) climatic conditions covering multiple decades of the 19th century compared with projected future (warmer) climatic conditions covering multiple decades of the late 21st century. In this project, we are using the data in years 2000 and 2001. The final model accuracy was as high as 88%.

 This year, I have been in the development of my fourth comic, “The Devil’s Symphony,” a fictional action thriller about the lives of those involved in organized crime. Following the narrative of “J”, a syndicate leader with a moral code, readers are introduced to the life of crime and corruption within a bustling metropolis. My goal for this comic is to gain more experience as a webcomic artist and storyteller.

 My studio practice involves an interest in storytelling that revolves around life experiences and how they mold our moral compass. There are explorations of empathy and notions of justice. Through sequential art, my audience experiences the action, trauma, and charm that build dynamic people. In this program, we will walk through the process of creating comics.

 The aim of this study is to determine whether there is an association in adults among disability status, self esteem, self efficacy, and a social justice mindset. Additionally, this study investigates whether there is a relationship between college education and inclination towards a social justice mindset.

 Data collection is currently in progress. Using the online service Prolific Academic, individuals living in the United States ages 18-30, disabled and non-disabled, with and without a college degree, are being surveyed. The measures used in this study are the Personal Disability Identity Measurement: Self-Worth and Personal Meaning, the General Self Efficacy Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Social Justice Scale (SJS).

 Once data are collected, associations among the variables will be analyzed. Predicted results for this study are that individuals with a personal disability identity and a social justice mindset will have higher self esteem and self efficacy compared to those without a social justice mindset. The presentation will explore implications for a diverse community and next steps for future research.

Link to the online program