RESEARCH SHOWCASE 2019
CONTENTS 2019 Research Showcase
Welcome
4
Agenda
5
Abstracts
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
8
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
12
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
15
College of Business
19
College for Design and Social Inquiry
22
College of Education
25
College of Engineering and Computer Science
28
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
32
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
36
FAU High School
38
3
WELCOME
Best of the Best As we celebrate Florida Atlantic University’s second annual Research Showcase, we are proud to present a widely varied selection of the outstanding work that has been undertaken by our faculty and students. From examining the role of “big data” in biomedical research to harnessing the power of artificial intelligence against social media abuse, FAU’s researchers and scholars are focused on finding solutions to a host of 21st century problems. Speakers and poster presentations represent a broad spectrum of interests, including a study of the psychological and biological benefits walking shelter dogs can bring to veterans with posttramatic stress disorder and an exploration of the evolution of Ian Fleming’s James Bond character. One especially notable addition to this year’s posters is titled “Open for Collaboration: FAU Owls Imaging Lab.” The lab, housed within FAU High School, opened late last year and has the only scanning electron microscope and microCT scanner on the Boca Raton campus. Congratulations to all whose work is celebrated in this year’s Research Showcase, and sincere thanks to all faculty and students whose efforts in the lab and the classroom are taking FAU to the next level of excellence. While this annual exhibition cannot cover all the innovative work that is taking place at the university, every contribution is important and appreciated. We hope this showcase will inspire scholars and researchers university-wide to move forward in their fields of endeavor. Together we can move mountains!
Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019
AGENDA
Time
2019 Research Showcase
Event
3:30 p.m.
Registration
4 p.m.
Welcome Daniel Flynn, Ph.D., Vice President for Research
4:15 p.m.
Rubin Gruber: Artificial Intelligence From a CommunityPerspective
4:30 p.m.
Panel Discussion: Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technologies and You William Hahn, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in Mathematical Sciences and Co-Director of the Machine Perception and Cognitive Robotics Lab Jason Hallstrom, Ph.D., director of FAU's Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems Engineering Topher Maraffi, MFA, an Assistant Professor in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Russell Shilling, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at the American Psychological Association
5:30 p.m.
Faculty Recognition Bret Danilowicz, Ph.D., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Daniel Flynn, Ph.D., Vice President for Research
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Reception and Music
5
Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 Time
Event
8 a.m.
Platform Roundtable Community Engagement: Ron Nyhan, Ph.D. Data Science and Analytics: Ata Sarajedini, Ph.D. Diversity: Andrea Guzman Oliver, Ph.D. Entrepreneurship: Daniel Flynn, Ph.D. Global Perspectives: Madison McShane, M.Ed. Graduate College and Office of Undergraduate Research Inquiry: Bob Stackman, Ph.D. and Donna Chamely-Wiik, Ph.D. Healthy Environment: Michael Dipple Peace Justice Human Rights: Douglas T. McGetchin, Ph.D. South Florida Culture: Evan Bennett, Ph.D., Desmond M. Gallant, MFA, and April Soroko, MFA
Additional FAU Initiatives Florida Israel Institute: Dani Raviv, Ph.D. STEM Collaborative: Nancy Romance, Ed.D.
9:30 a.m.
College of Education Michael Brady, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Exceptional Student Education
9:45 a.m.
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Janet Robishaw, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean for Research and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Science
10 a.m.
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Cheryl Krause-Parello, Ph.D., Professor, Director, Canines Providing Assistance to Wounded Warriors
10:15 a.m.
College of Engineering and Computer Science Reza Azarderakhsh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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2019 Research Showcase
10:30 a.m.
Break
11 a.m.
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science Alex Keene, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
11:15 a.m.
College for Design and Social Inquiry Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D., Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
11:30 a.m.
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College Tracy John Mincer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry
11:45 a.m.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters AyĹ&#x;e Papatya Bucak, MFA, Associate Professor of English
noon
College of Business Douglas Cumming, Ph.D., DeSantis Distinguished Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship
12:15 p.m.
Poster Session: View our Best Lunch
2 p.m.
FAU Brain Institute (I-Brain) Randy Blakely, Ph.D., Executive Director of the I-Brain
2:20 p.m.
FAU Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention (I-Health) Gregg Fields, Ph.D., Executive Director of I-Health
2:40 p.m.
FAU Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems Engineering (I-SENSE) Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D., I-SENSE Fellow
3 p.m.
FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) James Sullivan, Ph.D., Executive Director of HBOI
3:20 – 4 p.m.
2019 Research Showcase
Closing Remarks
7
(alphabetical by College)
ABSTRACTS 8
CHARLES E. SCHMIDT COLLEGE OF MEDICINE Speaker: Janet Robishaw, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean for Research and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Science
Dr. Robishaw’s research focus is the identification of human disease-associated genetic variants utilizing genomic analysis of large patient cohorts followed by assessment of their disease-causing mechanisms. She has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for more than 30 years and has more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, reviews and book chapters. Precision Medicine: Harnessing the Power of Big Data for Research and Education The NIH define precision medicine as an “approach for disease treatment and prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment and lifestyle for each person”. Its promise derives from the recent explosion in “big data” that reflects the variety and volume of information that is increasingly available. By using machine-learning approaches to analyze trends and patterns in data, we are able to generate new hypotheses regarding the causal bases of diseases, resulting in targeted treatments for individual patients. However, in order to fully realize the potential of precision medicine, we must fundamentally change the way we do research by updating the infrastructure, engaging patients and community stakeholders, sharing data and samples, and forming collaborative networks that bring together experts from the medicine, computer engineering and behavioral science fields. In parallel, we must adapt the way we teach health professionals (e.g., physicians, nurses, pharmacists, genetic counselors) by ensuring that they have the requisite skills to interpret and incorporate this new knowledge into a patient care model that emphasizes prevention, diagnosis and treatment tailored toward individuals. 2019 Research Showcase
Posters: Mice Lacking Gαolf Signaling in Striatopallidal Neurons Exhibit ‘Schizophrenia-related’ Behaviors Gloria Brunori, Ph.D., Anna Stauffer, Oliver Pelletier and Janet Robishaw, Ph.D.
Schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorders are major neuropsychiatric disorders, strongly related to genetic factors. Susceptibility loci in chromosomal region 18p11.2 have been identified as common to both disorders. One candidate gene in this region is GNAL, encoding for the G-protein stimulatory alpha subunit Gαolf. Gαolf is highly expressed in the striatum, a brain region relevant to psychosis and responses to psychostimulants. Gαolf function depends on G-protein γ7, responsible for the assembly of the striatal-specific Gαolfβ2γ7 heterotrimer. To investigate the role of Gαolf signaling in striatonigral and striatopallidal pathways, here we examine the behavioral features of mice lacking Gγ7 in dopamine D1R- or D2Rexpressing neurons, respectively. We observe that mice lacking Gγ7 in D2R-expressing neurons show a range of behaviors relevant to certain symptoms of schizophrenia. These findings provide novel insight into the potential role of striatopallidal Gαolf signaling in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Supported by NIH grant R01GM114665.
2019 Research Showcase
Services Authorization Based on Individual Health Outcomes: A Cost-Effectiveness Model of Substance Abuse Treatment Payment Models Vincenzo Giovannazo, Shiv Krishnaswamy, Kevin Lukose and Ximena Levy, MPH, M.D.
Limited standardized number of services approved for patients in substance abuse disorder treatments is generating repetitive and multiple cycles per patient. The current provision of services based in fixed utilization patterns may be increasing the longterm cost and reduced effectiveness of treatment efforts. Based on common outcomes reported in the literature and real-world cost-data, we evaluated the cost-effectiveness of two substance abuse treatment payment strategies using a Markov model, from a payer perspective. The estimated total cost for services authorization based in individual health care outcomes (SABIHC) were $13,350.20/treatment/cycle and $23,663.93 for current utilization model. The percentage of patients who responded favorably to treatment was 56 percent in the SABIHC model and 22 percent in current strategy (CER of $143,241.02 and $196,924.34 respectively). Results from the analysis indicated that SABIHC may provide a highly costeffective and savings alternative compared with the current model of payment and services approval in the U.S. system.
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A Study of Activity-Dependent Synaptic Plasticity in Primary Huntington’s Disease Neurons by Means of Microfluidic Electrical Stimulation Genevieve Margaret Liddle and Jianning Wei, Ph.D.; and Moaed Abd, Erik Engeberg, Ph.D., Emmanuelle Tognoli, Ph.D., and Sarah Du, Ph.D., of the College of Engineering and Computer Science
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by pathological CAG repeat expansions in the huntingtin (Htt) gene. To find potential therapeutic strategies, it is crucial to study molecular changes mediated by the mutant Htt protein. Using primary neurons isolated from N171-82Q transgenic HD mice, we propose to further investigate synaptic instability in wild type and HD primary neurons under electrical
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stimulations. Our approach for studying synaptic functions of primary neurons will involve an in vitro microfluidic platform, with programmable electrical stimulation capabilities via microelectrodes. The separation of the microfluidic chamber into somal and axonal compartments will allow for the application of various capabilities of electrical stimulation, as well as the use of fluorescent probes to investigate protein/organelle dynamics in real time. Benefits and Risks of Nonsteroidal AntiInflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs): Methodologic Limitations Lead to Clinical Uncertainties Manas Rane, M.D., Jennifer Foster, M.D., Sarah Wood, M.D., Patricia Hebert, Ph.D., and Charles H. Hennekens, M.D.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used by 29 million adults (12 percent) for pain and inflammation. NSAIDs include aspirin, traditional NSAIDs (tNSAIDs) including ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac, and selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors (COXIBs) such as celecoxib. COXIBs decrease gastrointestinal (GI) side effects of aspirin and tNSAIDs. Side effects of NSAIDs are common and can be serious, including cardiovascular (CV) and GI. More than 100,000 hospitalizations and 17,000 deaths are attributed annually to NSAIDs. Recently the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) strengthened its warning about the risks of myocardial infarction and stroke attributed to non-aspirin NSAIDs.
2019 Research Showcase
Methylation of TWIST1 Promotors Predicts Mesenchymal Stem Cell Function Ugoma Onubogu and Cori Booker; and Siddaraju Boregowda, Ph.D., and Donald Phinney, Ph.D., both of The Scripps Research Institute
Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are under investigation as an experimental therapy for a wide array of human diseases because of their potent immuno-modulatory, anti-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic properties. While MSCs show immense therapeutic promise, the development of efficacious MSC-based therapies is hampered by an inability to match cell potency, which varies widely between donors, to the appropriate disease indication. As a result, many studies involve poorly characterized MSCs, which have led to misrepresentations and skepticism of their function and usage. We have shown that clinically relevant effector functions of MSCs are reliably predicted by the amount of expression of the transcription factor TWIST1; and that methylation of CpG islands on the TWIST1 promoter region correlates with overall TWIST1 expression in MSC populations. Here, we show that CpG methylation in the TWIST1 promotor can be used to characterize the growth and therapeutic potential of MSC populations from different human donors.
2019 Research Showcase
Disruption of Mitochondrial Function Supports Dopamine-Dependent Paralysis and Neurodegeneration in C. Elegans Osama Refai, Ph.D., Peter Rodriguez, Sean Mellish and Randy Blakely, Ph.D.; Vrinda Kalia and Gary W. Miller, Ph.D., both of Columbia University; and Andrew Hardaway, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina
Dopamine (DA) is a neurotransmitter that modulates neural signaling across phylogeny. In humans, disruption of DA signaling is associated with multiple brain disorders including ADHD, schizophrenia, addiction and Parkinson’s disease. The DA transporter (DAT) regulates the spatial and temporal dynamics of extracellular DA following vesicular release. Human DAT has been shown to be able to rescue phenotypes associated with a loss of function mutation (lof) in the C. elegans DAT ortholog, dat-1, supporting a functional conservation of the transporter in regulating DA signaling. Genetic and pharmacological elimination of DAT-1 function results in Swimming-induced paralysis (Swip), a phenotype that we have used previously to identify and characterize novel regulators of DA signaling. Here, we present our efforts to characterize one of these mutants, swip-20.
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CHARLES E. SCHMIDT COLLEGE OF SCIENCE Speaker: Alex Keene, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor
Posters:
of Biological Sciences
The Function and Evolution of Sleep Sleep is nearly ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom, yet little is known about how ecological environment and evolutionary history shape the duration and timing of sleep. In diverse species, poor sleep negatively impacts development, cognitive abilities and longevity, yet the central function of sleep remains unknown. We have identified the evolution of sleep loss in Mexican cavefish, providing a system to identify new genes and functions related to sleep, and to address how to alter brain function to require less sleep. Remarkably, in addition to sleep loss, cavefish are obese and diabetic but appear to be healthy, suggesting they have evolved genes that protect against metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases associated with these traits in humans. We are developing genetic tools to identify genes involved in protection against sleep loss and metabolismassociated diseases with potential to provide novel avenues for treating Alzheimer's, heart disease and other disorders.
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Bridged Bicyclic Compounds and Their Derivatives as Neuroprotective Agents Salvatore Lepore, Ph.D., and Samantha Maki, doctoral candidate
We are currently engaged in the total synthesis of vitisinol D, isolated as a minor constituent from the roots of Vitis thunbergii, a folk-medicine plant of Taiwan. While continuing our efforts to construct this resveratrol natural product, we have prepared simplified versions that still contain its unique bicyclic core. In this presentation, we discuss our synthetic approach to this challenging structure in which allenyl esters are utilized as a key building block for the rapid assembly of the bicyclic skeleton. We have currently synthesized several analogs of vitisinol D that exhibit a neuroprotective effect at the subnanomolar range in synaptic failure experiments in a Drosophila melanogaster neural tissue model under oxidative stress. These biological findings will also be presented.
2019 Research Showcase
ASTRO (Autonomous System for Terrestrial Robotic Operation) the Robot Dog
Scale, Rank, Model Selection in Evaluations of Land Cover's Influence on Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions
Elan Barenholtz, Ph.D.
Scott Markwith, Ph.D., Julio Cesar de Souza, Ph.D., Aaron Evans, Ph.D., and Vanessa Pereira da Cunha
Quadruped autonomous robots provide a robust solution for multiple applications in which stability, flexibility, long battery charge and payload transportation are required. Most robots in development are based on human-operated remote control with limited sensory capacity, limiting both their range and functionality. Here, we present ASTRO, a quadruped robotic platform equipped with multiple sensors and onboard computers for autonomous inference and control. Sensors include stereo and single-lens cameras, timeof-flight sensors, microwave for trans-surface imaging and directional microphone. An onboard ROS system provides sensor integration and connectivity to GPU-based neural network models for autonomous inference and control. Onboard sensors and computers are housed in a life-like ‘skin and head, giving the appearance of a robotic dog, increasing social acceptance. Current operations include obstacle avoidance, voice command, pose extraction, gesture recognition and face following. Longterm research goals are supervised and reinforcement-based learning for a wide range of applications including activity classification and alerts, search and rescue and reconnaissance.
2019 Research Showcase
The objective of this study was to assess the influence of variation in spatial scales of land cover explanatory variables and taxonomic rank of response variables in models of wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs). Specific research questions: 1) do the scales of land cover measurement that produce the highest quality models differ among species, 2) do the factors that influence roadkill events differ within species at different scales of measurement, and 3) does the taxonomic rank at which data is analyzed influence the selection of explanatory variables? The four species most frequently involved in collisions were examined, i.e. two mammals, one reptile and one bird. We sampled land cover classes at three buffer radii. Logistic regression with model selection based on AIC found that the scale of land cover variables selected for the highest quality models, and the selected variables themselves, may vary among wild fauna. The same explanatory variables and formulas are not always included in the candidate models in all compared scales for a given species. Pooling species at higher taxonomic ranks can result in models that do not correspond with species level models of pooled species.
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Biometric Data Transformation for Cryptographic Domains and its Application
Analysis of the RR Lyrae Variable Population in DDO216
Shoukat Ali, Ph.D., Koray Karabina, Ph.D., and Emrah Karagoz
Eleanor Stuart and Ata Sarajedini, Ph.D.
A large class of biometric template protection algorithms assume that feature vectors are integer valued. However, biometric data is generally represented through real-valued feature vectors. Therefore, secure template constructions are not immediately applicable when feature vectors are composed of real numbers. We propose a generic transformation and extend the domain of biometric template protection algorithms from integer-valued feature vectors to real-valued feature vectors. We show that our transformation is accuracy-preserving and verify our theoretical findings by reporting the implementation results using a public keystroke dynamics dataset.
RR Lyrae (RRL) variable stars are some of the oldest stars in the universe and are widely used to gain insight into the properties of their host populations. In this study, we identified and characterized RRL in the dwarf galaxy DDO216, using archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations. We identified about 1200 RRL candidates and used software to fit light curve templates to the data before manually evaluating the fit of each one and selecting about 150 RRLs that fit the templates well. The preliminary Bailey diagrams follow the expected shape, with separate groups indicating ab-type and c-type RRLs, and the Hertzsprung Russell diagram shows RRLs in their predicted location on the horizontal branch. Individual metallicities for the RRL were calculated based on a period-metallicity relation, and we use a period- Wesenheit-metallicity relation to calculate the distance to DDO216. Once these properties of the RRLs have been analyzed, further research into the composition and evolution of DDO216 can be conducted, which will allow us to better understand the evolution of dwarf galaxies.
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2019 Research Showcase
CHRISTINE E. LYNN COLLEGE OF NURSING SPEAKER: Cheryl Krause Parello, Ph.D., Professor; and
Posters:
Director of Canines Providing Assistance to Wounded Warriors
Improving Muscle Strength and Function in Older Adults with Nutrition Education, Diet Coaching and a Per-meal Protein Prescription
Veterans Walking Shelter Dogs: Examining Psychological and Biological Stress Responses Over Time Erika Friedmann, Ph.D., Kelly Blanchard, Megan Payton and Nancy R. Gee, Ph.D.
Sareen Gropper, Ph.D., Maude Exantus, DNP, Kelley Jackson, Deborah D’Avolio, Ph.D., Andra Opalinski, Ph.D., Ruth Tappen, Ph.D.; and Edgar Vieira, Ph.D., of Florida International University
Many veterans reintegrating into civilian life battle post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its consequential symptoms. Literature supports using animal-assisted interventions to reduce stress. This project evaluated the effect of walking with a shelter dog on psychological/biological stress responses in veterans. Veterans (N=33) participated in the experimental dog-walk (four weekly 30min. sessions) and comparison human-walk (four weekly 30-minute sessions). PTSD symptoms, perceived stress and salivary cortisol, alphaamylase and heart rate variability were assessed. Linear mixed modes with random intercepts and repeated measurements nested within participants were used for separate analyses of each outcome. Results indicate responses to walking with a dog and a human from week one to four are different, depending on PTSD symptoms. This study provides evidence that walking with a shelter dog influenced stress indicators in veterans. Future studies with a larger sample size in multiple shelters should be conducted to support and extend the current results.
Many older adults do not consume enough protein. Low protein ingestion decreases muscle protein synthesis, mass, strength and physical performance. This study examined the effects of nutrition education, telephone-based diet coaching and a per-meal protein prescription on changes in protein intake, strength and physical function. Methods: Twenty participants completed the 10-week study. Changes over time in protein intake, weight, grip strength, time to complete the timed up-and-go (TUG), 3-meter walk, five-chair rise and Short Physical Performance Battery scores were analyzed. Results: Protein intake/kg body weight increased from baseline to 10 weeks. Weight did not change significantly. Protein intake/meal was significantly higher at five and 10 weeks versus baseline, with no significant difference between five and 10 weeks. There were small, but significant, improvements from baseline to 10 weeks in grip strength, TUG, 3-meter walk and five-chair rise time. Conclusions: Further studies with a larger sample and controls are warranted.
2019 Research Showcase
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Racial and Ethnic Differences in BRCA1/2 and Multigene Panel Testing Among Young Breast Cancer Patients Tarsha Jones, Ph.D.
Genetic testing for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) is recommended for breast cancer patients diagnosed at age ≤50 years. Our objective was to examine racial/ethnic differences in genetic testing frequency and results among diverse breast cancer patients. Methods: A retrospective cohort study among women diagnosed with breast cancer at age ≤50 years from January 2007 to December 2017 at Columbia University in New York was undertaken. Results: Among 1,503 diverse young breast cancer patients, nearly half (46.2 percent) completed HBOC genetic testing. Genetic testing completion was associated with younger age, family history of breast cancer and earlier stage, but not race/ethnicity or health insurance status. Blacks had the highest frequency of Pathogenic/ Likely Pathogenic (P/LP variants) (18.6 percent) and Hispanics and Asians had the most variants of uncertain significance (19 percent and 21.9 percent, respectively). Conclusions: Young breast cancer patients from racial/ethnic minorities need to be counseled on the potential uncertainty of genetic tests.
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Team Science Concepts in Collaborative Technological Research: From Theory to Practice Mary Ann Leavitt, Ph.D.
Introduction: Team Science (TS) involves researchers from several disciplines, leading to more efficient and richer solutions to complex problems. Recently, an innovative collaboration between nursing and engineering researchers utilized critical factors from TS. Methods: A team of four researchers assembled to develop a skin-based sensor to alert for heart failure decompensation. The team consisted of a heart failure nurse scientist and three engineering faculty with expertise in disease diagnostics, biosensors and smart healthcare technologies. Team-building components such as trust, creating a shared vision and communication were critical to the TS process. Results: A hierarchy of TS components emerged with "coming to know each other" as a foundation that fosters trust and leads to communication to reach a shared vision. Exemplars are described from the intrapersonal, environmental, organizational and technological domains of team collaboration. Discussion/conclusion: This TS collaboration will be continued to achieve prototype sensor validation and testing.
2019 Research Showcase
Development and Use of Bullying Vignettes to Understand the Effect on Patient Outcomes
Exploring Qualities of Natural Space that Predict Wellbeing of Urban-Dwelling Children
Joy Longo, Ph.D., and Michael A. DeDonno, Ph.D. College of Education
Misako Nagata
Background: Incivility and bullying, when directed toward healthcare workers, may threaten patient safety and outcomes. However, cause and effect research is lacking due to the inability to manipulate behaviors. Written vignettes, which simulate realworld scenarios, provide a way to investigate the effect of workplace bullying on patient care through changes in mood, a known outcome of bullying. Methods: A two-phase study was conducted: 1) a set of workplace bullying vignettes was developed and tested for content validity, and 2) the vignettes were ordered according to level of severity and used to evaluate the relationship between bullying and negative affect. Results demonstrated that the vignettes elicited statistically significant changes in negative affect over time. Discussion: The vignettes were an appropriate proxy for exposure to actual behaviors. Future research will investigate the effect of reading the written vignettes on cognitive skills needed to provide patient care.
2019 Research Showcase
Background: Research has suggested positive effects of nature immersion for urban children who were otherwise at risk of emotional or behavioral problems. However, few studies have systematically investigated natural space qualities that predict child wellbeing. Purpose: To increase understanding of natural space qualities as predictors of urban child wellbeing. Method: Explanatory mixed-methods were used. Quantitative data (N=176) included a survey and two parental-reports of Linear Regression and Content Analysis. Both data (N=15). Data were analyzed using: Ordinary Least Squares Multiple Linear Regression and Content Analysis. Both data streams were merged into a point of metainterference. Results: Green rather than blue spaces significantly predicted (p<0.005) child wellbeing. Convenient opportunities for nature exposure that integrated child learning and provided safety were a priority for parents. Conclusion: Integration of natural spaces into urban environments may be a cost-effective and meaningful way to address urban child wellbeing.
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Psychometric Testing of the Human Connection Scale for People Experiencing Homelessness Andra Opalinski, Ph.D., Deborah Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Avolio, Ph.D., and David Newman, Ph.D.; Nancy Stein, Ph.D., and Danielle Groton, Ph.D., both of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters; and Valerie Fox of Holy Cross Hospital
Background: Human connection between clients and health providers through empathetic bond can have a positive effect on health outcomes. People experiencing homelessness (PEH) suffer higher prevalence of health conditions than the general population. Few measures exist to assess the human connection between PEH and their health providers. Aims: To examine the psychometric properties of the adapted Human Connection Scale for Persons Experiencing Homelessness (HCS-PEH). Methods: Research was completed in five sequential steps from adapting to psychometric testing with 103 persons experiencing homelessness. Results: Factor analysis demonstrated emergence of three distinct factors of trust, caring and respect, explaining 68.1 percent of total variance. Subsequent confirmatory factor analysis supported the theoretical construct (Watsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Caritas Competencies) underlying the tool, and internal consistency reliability was established.
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2019 Research Showcase
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS Speaker: Douglas Cumming, Ph.D., DeSantis Distinguished
Posters:
Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship
Advanced Predictive Analytics to Reduce Avoidable Hospital Readmissions for COPD
Does FinTech Compete With or Complement Bank Finance? We consider comprehensive data on crowdfunding in the U.S., including debt (marketplace lending), rewards, donations and equity crowdfunding, to formally test for the first time if banks are complements to or substitutes for crowdfunding. The data indicate that bank failures in a county are associated with a reduction in debt and reward crowdfunding and total crowdfunding (including donations and rewards as well; however, bank failures are statistically unrelated to those types of crowdfunding in our empirical setting). The data are consistent with bank failures being associated with a reduction in the aggregate number of entrepreneurs in a county, while the remaining entrepreneurs seeking crowdfunding are less reliant on external debt finance in their county. Overall, the data indicate that crowdfunding and traditional bank finance are complements.
2019 Research Showcase
Ravi Behara, Ph.D., Derrick Huang, Ph.D., and Jahyun Goo, Ph.D.; Ankur Agarwal, Ph.D., and Piyush Jain, doctoral student, both of the College of Engineering and Computer Science; and Christopher Baechle, Ph.D., of Indian River State College
Annual hospital readmissions cost more than $41 billion for patients readmitted within 30 days of discharge in the United States. Medicare beneficiaries account for a significant portion of this cost, at about $26 billion annually. Of this, $17 billion is due to avoidable readmissions each year. Since preventable hospital readmission is such a costly problem, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began to reduce payments to hospitals with avoidable readmissions. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is among the conditions and procedures that CMS has targeted for such financial penalties, as part of the value-based reimbursement system. As a result, it is imperative that hospitals identify patients at risk for hospital readmission and avoid such readmissions through a series of interventions. Predictive modeling using machine learning and data analytics can be a useful decision support tool to help identify patients most likely to be readmitted. Here we present a stream of predictive analytics research on avoidable COPD-related hospital readmissions.
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Cash, Crime and Cryptocurrencies
Religion and Stock Price Crash Risk
William Luther, Ph.D.
Xiachua â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Davidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Fang, Ph.D.; and Jeffrey L. Callen, Ph.D., University of Toronto
In his recent book "The Curse of Cash," Ken Rogoff lists reductions in criminal activity and tax evasion among the primary benefits of eliminating cash. We maintain that, to the extent that individuals are interested in purchasing illicit goods and services or evading taxes, eliminating cash will encourage them to switch to close substitutes. Hence, governments intent on realizing the benefits cited by Rogoff would not merely need to eliminate cash. They would also need to ban alternatives. This is especially relevant given the proliferation of cryptocurrencies, which provide a fair degree of anonymity for users.
This study examines whether religiosity at the county level is associated with future stock price crash risk. We find robust evidence that firms headquartered in counties with higher levels of religiosity exhibit lower levels of future stock price crash risk. This finding is consistent with the view that religion, as a set of social norms, helps to curb the incentive of corporate managers to withhold negative information from the public. Our evidence further shows that the negative relation between religiosity and future crash risk is stronger for riskier firms and for firms with weaker governance mechanisms measured by shareholder takeover rights and dedicated institutional ownership. Identifying Axpatriates: A Role for Personality Testing? Michael B. Harari, Ph.D.
Identifying managers to relocate on expatriate assignments has become an increasingly complex issue for multinational organizations. Among the many difficulties faced, a persistent concern is high expatriate failure rates. Expatriates often adjust poorly to their new cultural context and are at an increased likelihood to experience poor mental health andpoor performance and to terminate their assignment early. In our study, we tested the possibility that personality testing could be used to determine if someone is likely to adjust well to an international assignment and thus be a good fit. In particular, our findings indicated that individuals who have extroverted, open and 20
2019 Research Showcase
emotionally stable personalities adjusted best to international assignments. Thus, our work suggests that organizations can use personality testing to help to identify potential expatriates, and individuals considering an expatriate assignment can use personality testing to gauge potential adjustment difficulties while abroad. Capsule Hotels: Offering Experiential Value or Perceived as Risky by Tourists? An Optimum Stimulation Level Model Anil Bilgihan, Ph.D.
Capsule hotels are a novel Japanese approach to accommodation that arose in 1979 before spreading to other countries worldwide. For most travelers outside Japan, however, the concept of capsule hotels is relatively new. They provide experiential value to the traveler; they also pose some risks. Travelers seeking familiarity view unfamiliar environments as riskier, and perceived risk has a negative influence on consumer behavior. The Optimum Stimulation Level (OSL) theory suggests that individuals have a tendency to maintain stimulation at the most pleasant level and individuals have different OSLs that may involve seeking out of novelty. This study aims to establish a behavioral model of capsule hotel visitors by incorporating OSL, perceived risk and experiential value into its analytical framework. A total of 276 respondents who stayed in a capsule hotel participated in the study. Findings suggest that the OSL has a positive effect on the experiential value and perceived risk. The experiential value, in return, negatively affects perceived risk. The experiential value also plays a mediating role between perceived risk and OSL.
2019 Research Showcase
Potential “Savings” of Medicare: The Analysis of Medicare Advantage and Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) Charles Yang, Ph.D.
Medicare faces significant financial challenges because of rising health care costs. Medicare reform efforts have been testing various payment and service delivery models, including accountable care organizations (ACOs), aiming to reduce expenditures while preserving or enhancing the quality of care. ACOs are an organizational network of health care providers to coordinate all care for Medicare beneficiaries. This research applies Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess potential Medicare savings obtainable through efficiency improvement. DEA comparisons identify which Medicare plans operate more efficiently and which are inefficient. Additionally, for inefficient plans, the DEA analysis generates target levels of “inputs” and “outputs” required to bring the plan into efficient operation. Knowing sources of inefficiency can provide insights to Medicare reform, such as Medicare privatization and innovation models. Our results show that Medicare Advantage plans are more efficient in reducing health expenditures, but incur higher administrative costs. Health expenditure savings can also be achievable by promoting government-sponsored managed Medicare such as ACOs.
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COLLEGE FOR DESIGN AND SOCIAL INQUIRY Speaker: Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
AI Solutions to Social Media Abuse Dr. Sameer's professional life focuses on promoting civility and preventing toxicity online, especially among youth. By intersecting social science with computer science, he has been able to make strides in this area. With regard to AI, the overarching goal is to preempt victimization by identifying (and blocking, banning or quarantining) the most problematic users and accounts; immediately collapsing or deleting content that algorithms predictively flag and label as abusive; promoting, elevating or otherwise incentivizing civility and respect; otherwise controlling the posting, sharing or sending of messages that violate appropriate standards of behavior online. Most are on social media, and have seen (and experienced) the haters, harassers and trolls. Hinduja explores the types of behaviors that he is trying to eliminate and the ways he is seeking to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of all users through AI. He will also discuss the related challenges, and why this is an imperfect science. Ultimately, the goal is for everyone to have positive experiences online, rather than being silenced, harassed or otherwise victimized. AI can help; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just going to take some time.
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Posters: Support for Balanced Justice and Rehabilitation for Justice-Involved Veterans Cassandra A. Atkin-Plunk, Ph.D., and Lincoln B. Sloas, Ph.D.
Justice-involved veterans face increased behavioral health issues and are more likely to be incarcerated for a violent offense compared to non-veterans. Despite the large number of veterans involved in the justice system, there is a paucity of research examining public opinion of sanctioning approaches for justice-involved veterans. The current study seeks to fill this gap by sampling 575 undergraduate students at a large university in the south to examine support for sanctioning approaches for nonviolent and violent justice-involved veterans. Findings suggest support for a balanced justice approach to sanctioning violent justice-involved veterans, while support for a rehabilitation-oriented approach to sanctioning nonviolent justice-involved veterans. Visualizing Sea Level Rise Impacts in Transportation Planning Serena Hoermann, MBA, and Amir Koleini
Urban planners typically use graphs and maps to identify areas of potential risk and plan for resilience. This project compares the use of traditional, two-dimensional representations versus three-dimensional, immersive models to educate stakeholders about sea level risk projections in their communities.
2019 Research Showcase
U.S. Survey of Shared Decision Making Use for Treating Pregnant Women Presenting with Opioid Use Disorder Heather Howard, Ph.D.; and Katherine Freeman-Costin, Dr. Ph, BioStats Collaborative Core
The incidence of pregnant women with an opioid use disorder (PWOUD) at delivery has quadrupled since 1999. State-specific statutes regarding PWOUD often pose punitive measures to the motherâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;infant dyad, involving the child welfare and criminal justice systems. Shared decision making (SDM) assists individuals through complex health and recovery processes. We sought to determine use of SDM in treating PWOUD and associated factors and to quantify physiciansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; review and discussion of child welfare statutes. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) e-mailed the survey to a random sample of members, with 568 responding. Sixty-one percent used SDM most of the time. Logistic regression indicated that those using SDM were more likely to have had training in substance use disorder and felt prepared for caring for PWOUD; 39% reviewed statutes, and 54% discussed them with PWOUDs. Survey results provide evidence for patient-centered care approaches that support PWOUD involvement in treatment decision-making. The SDM model provides an empowerment framework for women to be involved in the process during their pregnancies and opioid use disorder treatments.
2019 Research Showcase
Employment Among Unaccompanied Women Experiencing Homelessness Danielle Groton, Ph.D.; and Melissa Radey, Ph.D., Florida State University
Women represent one of the fastest growing segments of the homeless population and employment is often central exiting homelessness. However, little research considers employment experiences among unaccompanied women, a particularly vulnerable sub-population. This study explored how unaccompanied women experiencing homelessness (n=20) perceived and negotiated employment in a mid-size community. Thematic analysis revealed four themes: limited work experience, limited aspirations, the holding pattern and individual barriers. Findings endorse the need for housing-first interventions to prioritize stable housing, employment-friendly shelters, and careerplanning programs to expand womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aspirations to include living-wage, sustainable options.
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The Experiences of Child Advocates for Youth in the Foster Care System Morgan Cooley, Ph.D., Marianna Colvin, Ph.D., and Heather Thompson, Ph.D.; and Laura Backstrom, Ph.D, of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
In Florida, guardians ad litem (GALs), child advocates are duly certified employees or volunteers appointed to represent the best interests of abused, abandoned and neglected children in court proceedings. GALs play an important role, and understanding their experience is important in determining what types of support or training child advocates need prior to and during their service as
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guardians. This research presents the findings of a qualitative analysis examining the experiences of 555 child advocates for youth in the foster care system. Implications for research, practice and policy will be discussed. Changing Topographies: Sea-Level Rise and the Projection of South Floridaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Future Coastal Urban Environments John Sandell
The project speculates on the future of urban environments and examines how communities in the South Florida region could evolve given sealevel rise. Waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role is central to the project study, understood as a primary transformative force guiding the urban design toward the development of hydro-patterns at multiple scales. Reparation and resiliency function dialectically with interconnectivity and permeability to tailor urban growth patterns to site conditions and create a zonal mosaic across the site-study area. By shifting design orientation to foreground the natural domain, climate-specific urban fluctuations of building mass, pattern, and public space are uncovered so as to favor an ecology that shapes natural and cultural identity specific to geographical location.
2019 Research Showcase
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION Speaker: Michael P. Brady, Ph.D., is Chair of the Department
Posters:
of Exceptional Student Education
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why Seek the Living Among the Dead?â&#x20AC;? African American Pedagogical Excellence: Exemplar Practice for Teacher Education
Abandoning the Evidence: The De-evolution of Evidence-Based Practices in Education and Human Services The gold standard for closing the research-topractice gap in education and human services is an implementation science based on evidence of effectiveness, with design hierarchies that give credit for studies that employ rigorous methods. In spite of this expectation, skeptics wonder why many mandated practices have so little evidence of effectiveness. During changing political climates evidence of effectiveness is replaced by regulatory mandates and policies, couched in the language of accountability. These policies often provide largescale commercial contracts to private vendors, paid by public funds, to deliver services and manage accountability data. Ironically, many of these policies are untested, provide little accountability and reduce support for the practices they must deliver and monitor. Three examples will show how effective practices have been replaced by mandated policies in the name of accountability, each with reduced impact. As FAU researchers strive to implement research-based practices, many challenges have little to do with the research process, but are based in the social, political and administrative contexts in which researchers and scholars live.
2019 Research Showcase
Melanie M. Acosta, Ph.D.
Although teacher diversity, teacher preparation and student achievement are contemporary and overlapping issues, they have suffered from the absence of African American educational principles and traditions. African Americans cultivated a sophisticated system of developing and supporting numbers of African American teachers, however, U.S. sociopolitical tactics have suppressed this method, which presently has obscured the potential of this approach to respond effectively to contemporary issues in teacher education. The authors of this article seek to address current dilemmas in recruiting and preparing a diverse teaching force by reorienting teacher education toward an underutilized resource â&#x20AC;&#x201D; African American pedagogical excellence. This article outlines the core attributes of African American pedagogical excellence, including its historical genesis, and reveals ways public school desegregation has jeopardized the transcendence of African American pedagogical excellence within teacher education. The article concludes with possibilities and recommendations for moving African American pedagogical excellence from margin to center in teacher education.
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Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Research at FAU: An International Coalition Ali A. Danesh, Ph.D.
Tinnitus is defined as sensation of sound(s) without any external acoustic source. Hyperacusis is intolerance of everyday sounds that cause significant distress and impairment in social, occupational and other day-to-day activities. It is shown that not everyone who has tinnitus and/or hyperacusis is affected and/or distressed by them. Recent studies suggest that some of the variance of tinnitus and hyperacusis handicap is explained by psychological factors. The risk of parental mental health on factors such as anxiety and depression and its effect on tinnitus and hyperacusis has not
been investigated thoroughly. Previous research has shown that there is a relationship between adverse childhood experiences and poor mental health among offspring across their life span. Our studies revealed that parental mental illness significantly increased the risk of anxiety and depression. Scores on test questionnaires were worse for the group that reported their parents had mental illness. There was a significant relationship between parental mental illness and suicidal and self-harm ideations. Depression also was significantly related to suicidal and self-harm ideations. Experimental Behavioral Research in Education: When People Benefit from Participating in Research Charles Dukes, Ph.D.
An often-asked question regarding research with human subjects is: What benefits do the participants of research gain from being involved in experimental research? This session summarizes a series of studies by educational researchers in which the participants of research realize direct benefits from their participation as research subjects. As researchers pursue the systematic study of educational phenomena, the people who participate in the studies experience improvements in their skills and performance. In this session, a series of studies will be summarized in which adults and children saw improvements in their learning and performance as outcomes of the experimental studies in which they participated. Four examples will be presented showing how investigatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; programs of research were able to push forward the knowledge of the research topics, while the participants in the
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2019 Research Showcase
studies saw real and practical gains in their skills and knowledge. Topics include health and safety outcomes of college students with intellectual disabilities, as well as social communication outcomes of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Modeling the Affective Dynamics of the Therapeutic Relationship Paul R. Peluso, Ph.D.
The therapeutic relationship is the cornerstone of any effective therapeutic encounter. However, little is known about the effects of specific emotional behaviors of therapists and clients on this important therapeutic factor, or how they can be modified to improve the quality of the relationship. In particular, the detection of very subtle emotional displays, often called “micro-expressions” (displays of emotion that are approximately 1/5 of a second in length), could provide critical feedback for clinicians on patients who are experiencing serious distress that they are unwilling to disclose, or who do not believe that counselors can help. In addition, these emotional displays can also be used to indicate the degree of cooperativeness with physician directives, comprehension of medical advice, and compliance with treatment regimens by measuring the emotional exchange between practitioners and clients. Information and analysis of the impact of the emotion coding, mathematical parameters, graphical representations, and other relationship measures on clinical outcomes (reduction in specific symptoms and behaviors) will be presented.
2019 Research Showcase
The Affective Turn in Education: Tuning into “More-than-Human” Literacies Bessie P. Dernikos, Ed.D.
My research offers a means of making sense of the complex affects that shape the making of elementary students as “un/successful” readers. I conceptualize affect as more than a mere emotion. It is a social force that moves human and nonhuman bodies in particular ways. I explore how these social forces (e.g. of race, gender) subtly move with/in classrooms through a host of bodies (e.g. books featuring only white characters) and sounds (e.g. bells disciplining students’ bodies) to reinforce processes of affective assimilation. For example, within my research in a New York City public school, I map out how first graders affectively responded to “classic” literature, namely by disconnecting to white characters and/or refusing to read such stories. These responses had specific consequences for boys of color who were often labeled as “struggling” readers. I argue that becoming a “good” literacy student, in part, depends on how well a child’s embodied responses align with an affective mode of being commonly linked to white middle-class subjectivity, thereby highlighting how sociopolitical forces circulate within classroom spaces to collectively produce, rather than reveal, literate identities.
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COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE Speaker: Reza Azarderakhsh, Ph.D., is a Assistant Professor
Posters:
in the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and an I-SENSE Fellow
Localizing and Classifying Adaptive Targets with Trend Filtered Regression
Dr. Azarderakhsh is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. His research in cryptographic engineering has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the United States Department of Defense and several other industries. Entering the quantum era opens doors to endless possibilities solving hard problems that used to be infeasible with classical computers. It has been widely accepted that quantum computer attacks on todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s security are expected to become a reality within the next decade. NIST has started evaluating proposals from academic and industry to investigate the quantum-safe algorithms and evaluate their security and performance. Azarderakhsh will talk about quantum-safe solutions, including postquantum primitives, encryption algorithms and key exchange mechanisms.
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Michael DeGiorgio, Ph.D.
Identifying genomic locations of natural selection from sequence data is an ongoing challenge in population genomics. Current methods utilizing information combined from several summary statistics typically assume no correlation of summary statistics regardless of the genomic location from which they are calculated. However, due to linkage disequilibrium, summary statistics calculated at nearby genomic positions are highly correlated. We introduce a machine learning approach termed Trendsetter that accounts for the similarity of statistics calculated from adjacent genomic regions through trend filtering, while reducing the effects of multicollinearity through regularization. Our penalized regression framework has high power and classification accuracy, and we find that it is robust to extensive missing data unlike comparable approaches. Moreover, the model learned by Trendsetter can be viewed as a set of curves modeling the spatial distribution of summary statistics in the genome. Application to human genomic data revealed positively selected regions involved in diet, skin pigmentation, and other morphological characters.
2019 Research Showcase
Renewable Natural Gas as Carbon-Neutral Fuel Masoud Jahandar Lashaki, Ph.D.
It is necessary to replace fossil fuels with alternative sources of energy to mitigate the deleterious effect of greenhouse gas emissions on the environment. Biogas is a clean source of renewable energy that may be produced in individual farms or in commercial facilities by anaerobic digestion of agricultural and municipal organic waste or dedicated crops. If not used for biogas production, manure and other organic waste in farms and municipal landfills generate uncontrolled emissions into the atmosphere. Biogas mainly consists of methane and carbon dioxide, in addition to ubiquitous impurities such as water vapor and hydrogen sulfide. Although biogas can be used locally for heat and power co-generation, added benefits are generated by upgrading biogas into grid-quality biomethane, also known as Renewable Natural Gas, which can be used as a clean, carbonneutral fuel. Current biogas upgrading technologies are often costly, multi-stage processes. The overarching goal of our research program is to develop a single-stage biogas upgrading technology for concurrent removal of all impurities through the use of made-to-order adsorbent materials.
2019 Research Showcase
Improving Fuel Efficiency Through Traffic Management: Case Study of Freeway Ramp Metering David Kan, Ph.D.
Mitigating congestion and reducing travel time have been the primary goals of managing todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transportation infrastructure. Ramp metering, a commonly practiced example of traffic management strategies, has been an effective tool to alleviate freeway congestion and reduce travel time by mitigating capacity drop. Capacity drop is a wellknown phenomenon that occurs when the maximum discharge flow of a freeway diminishes as a result of high demand from the merging onramp. We expect that congestion relief from commonly practiced traffic management strategies such as ramp metering would translate to lower fuel consumption and emissions. Microscopic simulations calibrated to represent realistic driver behavior showed that the capacity of a freeway merge can diminish by 9 percent when there is high demand from the merging onramp. This also resulted in significant increases in fuel consumption and emissions, based on analyses using autonomie, a fuel consumption and emissions model that simulates vehicle powertrain dynamics. Fortunately, simulation experiments also demonstrated that metering the onramp can prevent capacity drop and consequently reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
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Chemical Imaging of Complex Biological Composites Vivian Merk, Ph.D.
Towards a deeper understanding of the chemical processes occurring in a biological environment, it is critical to image the molecular and elemental composition with high accuracy. In recent years, tremendous advances have been made in the development of cutting-edge analytical methodologies combining high spatial resolution and detection sensitivity. Hyperspectral imaging provides a visual representation of a materialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chemical composition and structure, whereby each pixel corresponds to a full spectrum. Confocal Raman microscopy represents a powerful technique for label-free and non-destructive characterization of the molecular fingerprint. Synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence imaging enables us to locate and quantify chemical elements, even at trace levels, with a spatial resolution of 100 nm and below. Here, we will illustrate the capabilities for studying synthetic and natural biological samples, particularly the chemical modification of complex biocomposites and the sub-organelle distribution of trace metals in marine organisms. Chemical imaging holds great potential for a broad range of applications, including biomedical research, environmental, and materials science.
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2019 Research Showcase
Fish Schooling Using Artificial Intelligence Siddhartha Verma, Ph.D.
Collective motion may bestow evolutionary advantages to a number of animal species. Soaring flocks of birds, teeming swarms of insects, and swirling masses of schooling fish, all to some extent enjoy anti-predator benefits, increased foraging success, and enhanced problem-solving abilities. Coordinated activity may also provide energetic benefits, as in the case of large groups of fish where swimmers exploit unsteady flow-patterns generated in the wake. The precise energy-saving mechanisms at play in such scenarios remain largely unknown, due to significant difficulties associated with studying multiple swimmers. We combine high-fidelity numerical simulations of multiple, self propelled swimmers with novel deep reinforcement learning algorithms to discover optimal ways for swimmers to interact with unsteady wakes, in a fully unsupervised manner. We identify optimal flow-interaction strategies devised by the resulting autonomous swimmers, and use it to formulate an effective control-logic. We demonstrate, via 3D simulations of controlled groups that swimmers exploiting the learned strategy exhibit a significant reduction in energy-expenditure.
2019 Research Showcase
Intelligent Control in Networked Cyber-Physical Systems Xiangnan Zhong, Ph.D.
We are at the most exciting forefront of a new era of cyber-physical systems (CPS) research and applications. Over the past decade, we have witnessed tremendous fundamental research advancements as well as applications of CPS, ranging from Amazon’s robotics systems, to Uber’s self-driving car, to Google’s AlphaGo, to Apple’s Siri, to name a few. I will present a data-driven intelligent control method for the networked CPS with distributed nature. The method integrates a mechanism which mirrors human learning by exploring and interacting with the environment. Compared to the classical control methods which require detailed system information, this approach can adaptively control the networked agents by interacting physical systems when the systems with which they interact may react in inconsistent ways. In the control process, the networked agents are partially observable and can only obtain the information from itself and its nearest neighbors. The major technical challenge in this method is how to design the systems interaction behavior with their inconsistent neighbors in a way that will improve how they perform.
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DOROTHY F. SCHMIDT COLLEGE OF ARTS AND LETTERS Speaker: Ayşe Papatya Bucak, MFA, is an Associate Professor of English
Ayşe Papatya Bucak is the author of "The Trojan War Museum: and Other Stories," named a "book you should read right now" by O Magazine. Her writing has been awarded a variety of fellowships and awards, including the O. Henry and Pushcart prizes. The Creative Writer in the Academy Ayşe Papatya Bucak's work may be fiction but it has been shaped by history, literary theory, past and present politics, visual arts and more. Her presentation will provide specific examples as to the ways that being surrounded by the people and resources of a university has profoundly impacted her writing.
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Posters:
Ian Fleming, James Bond and the Many Facets of 'Diamonds Are Forever' Oliver Buckton, Ph.D.
James Bond – 007 – is one of the most famous and best loved characters in modern literature and film. This presentation will look at the evolution of James Bond in fiction and film, as well as the thrilling life of Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming. We will discuss Fleming’s dramatic wartime covert experiences in Naval Intelligence during World War II and his numerous relationships with fascinating women who became transformed into the “Bond Girls.” We will also travel through text and photos to Jamaica, where Fleming wrote the Bond novels at his clifftop home, “Goldeneye.” The presentation will focus on Ian Fleming’s fourth novel, "Diamonds Are Forever," which was based on a real-life diamond smuggling scandal in Africa, investigated by the former head of MI5. It was the first Bond novel to move away from the Cold War-inspired SMERSH villains, focusing instead on American gangsters and smugglers. This groundbreaking novel became the basis for Sean Connery’s final appearance as 007, and introduced some of the parody and camp sensibility that became a hallmark of Bond movies.
2019 Research Showcase
Reading the Bodies of Spring Street: The Bioarchaeology of Childhood in 19th Century Manhattan Meredith Ellis, Ph.D.
Skeletal remains offer us a window into the past, into social behavior, ideology, family and community. This presentation will look at the skeletal and historical data for subadults (children), birth to 14.5 years of age (MNI=70), buried at the Spring Street Presbyterian Church in lower Manhattan between 1820 and 1850. This poster will show how incorporating historical records and skeletal data can illuminate structuring forces in childhood health and experience. These forces give insight into the biological signatures present in the skeletal remains: for instance, 52 percent of the subadults have rickets, while 71 percent of the infants have scurvy. In order to contextualize these health markers, data from the 399 death records for children’s burials at the site will be presented as well. The biological data and death records will then be connected to the important structuring forces around families: the ideology of the church, the socioeconomic landscape of the city, and the interactions of people. Finally, this poster will highlight how new theoretical approaches to subadult remains that encourage a highly contextual bioarchaeology of childhood.
2019 Research Showcase
Dark Light Carol Prusa, MFA
Seeking liminal spaces I traveled to experience the totality of the eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, following in the footsteps of American astronomer Maria Mitchel. Her story, combined with those of other astronomers such as Vera Rubin, who provided early evidence of dark matter, fuel my exhibition Dark Light at the Boca Raton Art Museum, resulting in a body of work reflecting women who take measure of the stars and scotopic vision. This body of work includes etchings and large paintings, some with internal lights and video. In this work I create twilight worlds with erotically charged geometries, distilling disquieting possibilities brought to mind by recent observations of the Higgs boson – the metastable “God” particle in physics that might instantaneously blip us out of existence – and eruptive events, both political and environmental, that fill my mind with dread. I yearn to manifest a radical vision that takes into account chaotic interactions central to the formation of the universe, to unearth its vital beauty, plumbing the “threshole” of its dark belly. Through my work I hold to the overwhelming fecundity of life and the resilient connections creating our universe.
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The World That Fear Made: Slave Revolts and Conspiracy Scares in Early America Jason Sharples, Ph.D.
Fear was fundamental to American slavery. Slaveholders terrorized enslaved people with extreme violence, and slaves stirred fear in white people by relentlessly seeking freedom. As a result, officials in early America convinced themselves on dozens of occasions that a network of conspiring rebels was about to launch a massive insurrection. Their investigations and crackdowns — known as “conspiracy scares" — lasted for weeks and claimed the lives of many enslaved people while terrorizing their communities. The World That Fear Made, about to appear as a book, explains why conspiracy scares occurred twice as often as actual slave uprisings, and it shows that fearful colonists distorted potential threats by torturing enslaved people into false confessions. This research ultimately illustrates how fear can influence our perceptions of what is possible, thereby shaping our decisions, inspiring our actions, and governing our social relations. It also offers a historical dimension for understanding the policing injustices spotlighted by Black Lives Matter, and it gives insight into problems with recent terrorism investigations’ reliance on torture to generate information.
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2019 Research Showcase
Social Networks Moderate the Effect of Functional Impairment Trajectories on Wellbeing among Older Adults William R. McConnell, Ph.D.
Older adults with disabilities face a high risk of poor health and social isolation in later life. This study asks whether or not older adults’ social networks moderate the link between functional impairment trajectories and well-being. We analyze nationally representative panel data from the 2005-2015 NSHAP study, including 1,102 adults ages 57-85. First, we use latent class analysis to identify typical functional impairment trajectories. Low and stable impairment is most common, but 40 percent of adults have high or increasing impairment trajectories. Second, we use logistic regression to show that high and increasing impairment trajectories predict worse well-being (including depression, anxiety, stress and loneliness). For adults with high and stable impairment, larger and more supportive networks reduce the negative effect of impairment on wellbeing. However, adults with increasing impairment report worse wellbeing in larger social networks. Rather than benefiting from their networks, socially active adults with increasing impairment may struggle to adapt. This study shows that social context can both reduce and exacerbate the consequences of impairment in late adulthood.
2019 Research Showcase
Revving up the Presto: Recomposing Elements of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 14, Op. 131 Kevin Wilt
The presenter was commissioned by The Florida Orchestra to compose "Imagined Adventures: AutoBonn," a five-minute work in celebration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday, which occurs in 2020. The new piece is built from elements of the Presto movement of Beethoven’s "String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131," one of his late and experimental compositions. The original fast movement has abundant energy to donate to this new work, which aims to amplify this energy into a racing, adrenaline-fueled, concert-opening fanfare. By repurposing, layering and orchestrating several of the original motives, gestures and melodies, this new piece takes the spirit of Beethoven’s quartet and illuminates it with the full color spectrum of a modern symphony orchestra. The world premiere performances are Oct. 11-13 with The Florida Orchestra, conducted by music director Michael Francis.
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HARRIET L. WILKES HONORS COLLEGE Speaker: Tracy John Mincer, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry
Dr. Mincer has a bachelor's in chemistry/ biochemistry from the University of California San Diego and a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Mincer laboratory is focused on understanding the fate of plastic marine debris and its associations with ocean life. Plastic Debris in the Ocean: An Unnatural History: Plastic has become the most common form of marine debris in the 60 years since it entered the consumer arena and presents a major and growing pollution problem. A material of immense utility and durability, plastic has integrated seamlessly
into our everyday lives. However, these favorable properties have also enabled plastic debris to fully integrate into the marine environment - from a scale of nanometers to thousands of kilometers. Paradoxically, this persistent and abundant material presents a unique challenge to track once it escapes the waste stream. Work in his laboratory, together with collaborators, has focused on the first-order question, “What is the fate of plastic debris once it enters the marine environment?” This research has long-term aims to provide a perspective on tracking and understanding plastic debris export mechanisms. Overall, a main goal is to create tools that will enable an ocean-wide budget to inform scientists, policy makers and the general public in order to accelerate solutions to this important problem. Posters: Aww, Shoot Ashley Stevens
This game began as a simple subversion of the “first-person shooter” in which you may create, alter, and delete items rather than just destroying them. From there, the idea evolved into a short puzzle-platforming game with levels that played off the cube mechanic in various ways. You play as a young “Cube Mage”, who is undergoing the “Trial of Vertices” in order to unlock their true potential and gain full magical power over cubes. To do so, you must solve the environmental puzzles of each level and collect all of the disks. This will free you from “Cubeatory” and you will become a full-fledged Cube Mage. 36
2019 Research Showcase
Ontogeny of Schooling Behavior in Astyanax Mexicanus
Hispanics and OCD: The Roles of Ethnicity and Gender
Karla Holt and Johanna Kowalko, Ph.D.
Omar Avila Monge, Krystal St. Peter and Laura Vernon, Ph.D.
Groups of animals have complex social dynamics influenced by internal and external factors. Fish form social groups called schools and shoals. Environmental factors, such as predator presence and genetic factors influence the likelihood of schooling. Astyanax mexicanus is a fish species that exists in two extant morphs: cavefish and surface fish. Cavefish populations evolved morphological and behavioral alterations. The genetic similarities between populations, and differences in behavior, provide an opportunity to investigate the molecular and cellular bases of these complex behaviors. Past studies indicate that surface fish exhibit schooling and shoaling, while cavefish do not demonstrate social cohesiveness. However, it is currently unknown when during development these behavioral differences arise. To examine the ontogeny of social behaviors in A.mexicanus, we recorded and analyzed the movement of surface fish and cavefish alone and in groups at various points in development. Through analysis of nearest neighbor distances, velocity, and relative orientation, we identify when in development surface fish begin to school, and when social behavior diverges in the two populations.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by the intrusion of unwanted cognitions (thoughts, images, impulses) and compulsions (checking, cleaning) to reduce the anxiety caused by an obsession. Previous research shows that culture, ethnicity, race, and gender influence the phenomenology of OCD. African American individuals report higher disgust sensitivity than Caucasians, which is related to elevated OCD symptoms. The current study explored differences in OCD symptoms between Hispanic and Caucasian individuals, comparing self-reported severity of obsessivecompulsive symptoms (OCS), disgust sensitivity, and relationships between the two. We found Hispanic individuals and women report higher disgust sensitivity and more severe OCS than their respective Caucasian and male counterparts. Further, we found evidence for a moderated mediation model in which disgust sensitivity fully mediates the relationships between OCS and Hispanic ethnicity. Gender moderated the relationship between disgust sensitivity and OCS, with disgust sensitivity playing a more influential role on OCS severity among males.
2019 Research Showcase
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FAU HIGH SCHOOL Poster: Open for Collaborations: FAU Owls Imaging Lab Tricia Meredith, Ph.D., Jasmine Coyle, M.S., and Amy Tift, Ph.D., all of the College of Education; Danielle Ingle, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine; and Andrea Hernandez, and Alexandra Lolovar, both of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
The FAU High School Research Program opened the Owls Imaging (OI) lab in the FAU High School building in the fall of 2018. Currently, the OI lab houses the only working scanning electron microscope and microCT scanner on the FAU campus, as well as a trinocular stereo-microscope
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with integrated camera. The OI lab is open to FAU student and faculty researchers in exchange for either mentoring FAU High School students or providing a research-oriented event for the high school research courses. In the 2018/2019 school year, the OI lab hosted seven biology and ocean and mechanical engineering university research faculty who engaged seven of our high school students in 14 research projects. Plans to expand the lab are currently under way with the purchase of an inverted compound fluorescent microscope, histology equipment and a high-speed computer to process and analyze CT and other data. By increasing the available equipment for our students and collaborators, we hope to further facilitate mentorship and networking on an interdisciplinary, STEM-oriented platform.
2019 Research Showcase
NOTES