11th IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference — Live Keynotes 9 AM - 12:30 PM US EST
Poster Sessions
Session Poster-1
Poster Session 1
Conference
11:30 AM
—
12:30 PM EST
Local
Mar 13 Sat, 8:30 AM
—
9:30 AM PST
Novel application to improve communication for children affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder
Veda R Murthy (Rachel Carson School, USA)
5
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a spectrum of disorders that affects a child's communication, social, and emotional skills. ASD is a major challenge for children because they are not able to communicate effectively with others, especially in terms of conveying their emotions. For the 40% of ASD children who are mute and are not able to verbalize their emotions, facial expressions are the primary indicator that family members and caregivers use to recognize their emotion. ASD children display facial features unique to each child, so those who are unfamiliar with the child such as teachers may find it difficult to interpret the child's emotions. This creates a communication barrier between ASD children and the outside world, leading to frustration and isolation among the 13.7 million ASD children around the world.
Current solutions to help ASD children socialize, such as speech practising or assisted learning apps, do not reduce this barrier. This is because these apps are not an immediate solution to this barrier, and can be effective only after months of practice by the child. Also, most of these solutions do not work for mute ASD children. Thus, there is a dire need for an individualized solution that interprets an ASD child's emotion.
My solution is the Cognitive Emotion Interpretation App (CEIA). CEIA uses Artificial Intelligence and Emotion Recognition Technology to map an ASD child's facial expressions with an emotion. Through CEIA, people who are not familiar with the ASD child (teachers, extended family) can interpret the child's emotion. When a user (parent, caregiver) downloads the app, they upload photos of the ASD child expressing different emotions and tag the picture with the emotion (e.g. Happy, Sad, Frustrated, Hungry). CEIA then extracts the child's facial features, and the AI algorithm is trained to associate the picture with the emotion. When the user wants to interpret the child's emotion, they take a photo of the child exhibiting the emotion and upload it to CEIA. The AI algorithm will evaluate the photo, and list the emotions that match with the highest accuracy. The user can also upload more photos at a later stage, and the AI algorithm will be retrained to take these new photos into its training dataset. A higher number of photos used in training generally yields a higher recognition accuracy, thus users are encouraged to upload many photos of the child's emotions.
The performance of the app will be evaluated on the following metrics: 1) accuracy of the emotion recognizer, 2) amount of time CEIA takes to recognize the emotion, and 3) CEIA's ease of use. Accuracy will be measured by collecting a sample of a variety of emotions of different users, then measuring if CEIA correctly matched the emotion in the photo. This initial test of accuracy will provide a representative sample of the types of emotions CEIA will need to train on. CEIA will provide a much needed powerful tool to reduce the communication barrier between ASD children and their community.
Current solutions to help ASD children socialize, such as speech practising or assisted learning apps, do not reduce this barrier. This is because these apps are not an immediate solution to this barrier, and can be effective only after months of practice by the child. Also, most of these solutions do not work for mute ASD children. Thus, there is a dire need for an individualized solution that interprets an ASD child's emotion.
My solution is the Cognitive Emotion Interpretation App (CEIA). CEIA uses Artificial Intelligence and Emotion Recognition Technology to map an ASD child's facial expressions with an emotion. Through CEIA, people who are not familiar with the ASD child (teachers, extended family) can interpret the child's emotion. When a user (parent, caregiver) downloads the app, they upload photos of the ASD child expressing different emotions and tag the picture with the emotion (e.g. Happy, Sad, Frustrated, Hungry). CEIA then extracts the child's facial features, and the AI algorithm is trained to associate the picture with the emotion. When the user wants to interpret the child's emotion, they take a photo of the child exhibiting the emotion and upload it to CEIA. The AI algorithm will evaluate the photo, and list the emotions that match with the highest accuracy. The user can also upload more photos at a later stage, and the AI algorithm will be retrained to take these new photos into its training dataset. A higher number of photos used in training generally yields a higher recognition accuracy, thus users are encouraged to upload many photos of the child's emotions.
The performance of the app will be evaluated on the following metrics: 1) accuracy of the emotion recognizer, 2) amount of time CEIA takes to recognize the emotion, and 3) CEIA's ease of use. Accuracy will be measured by collecting a sample of a variety of emotions of different users, then measuring if CEIA correctly matched the emotion in the photo. This initial test of accuracy will provide a representative sample of the types of emotions CEIA will need to train on. CEIA will provide a much needed powerful tool to reduce the communication barrier between ASD children and their community.
An Autonomous Driving Simulation Platform as a Virtual HSAVC Competition Environment
Daren Hua (Eleanor Roosevelt High School, USA)
6
At ISEC 2018, Professor Marc E. Herniter presented the High School Autonomous Vehicle Competition (HSAVC), which introduces autonomous driving to high school students. The competition promotes STEM education by challenging participants to use MATLAB to create a vision-based track detection algorithm and Simulink to build a motor controller model. Following the COVID-19 global pandemic, many in-person STEM competitions were cancelled, including HSAVC. The goal of the Autonomous Driving Simulation Platform is to provide a virtual alternative to the in-person competition to adapt the opportunity of the HSAVC for an increasingly digital world. Using MATLAB, the Simulation Platform creates a real-time virtual environment for students to test their HSAVC track detection algorithms and motor controller models. The Simulation Platform consists of two MATLAB apps: a Track Generator and a Driving Simulator. The Track Generator application can create fixed tracks based on user inputs or randomized tracks based on user-defined lengths. The Track Generator utilizes a growth and mutation algorithm to create a track with three distinct track sections: straight, left curve, and right curve. The Track Generator's randomized track replicates the HSAVC's physical track, and the Driving Simulator replicates the HSAVC's 1:18 scale autonomous vehicle equipped with a linescan camera, a microcontroller, two drive motors, and a servo motor with three functional components: a vehicle model, a track model, and a camera model. The user interface includes fields to specify the input file paths and options to configure the physical parameters of the vehicle and camera. In addition, a Track View displays the vehicle's real-time position and orientation on the track while a Camera View captures real-time camera signals. Two proof of concept MATLAB apps (Track Generator and a Driving Simulator) have been successfully designed and packaged in MATLAB App Designer. Users can create a track and test their algorithms and models through an intuitive interface, making it an effective tool for STEM education in any classroom. The Autonomous Driving Simulation Platform holds potential as a solution to the HSAVC competition during the pandemic and can increase student engagement in the HSAVC from high schools around the world. The successful virtual adaptation of HSAVC demonstrates how simulations can be used as a critical tool for in-person STEM competitions to continue in digital form.
Desalination and Purification of Water using a Solar Powered Hydrogel Multistage
Kevin A Murphy (PRISMS, USA)
5
The United Nations has a goal to supply clean water and sanitation for all. This goal sprouts from the fact that one in three people do not have access to clean drinking water. Clean water is an essential resource for our survival, yet we waste and pollute it. 2.5% of the Earth's water is fresh yet only .5% is drinkable. As well as this, our already meager water resources are being threatened by climate change as weather patterns change and sea levels rise. An example of this is San Diego's water supply which comes directly from the Colorado River but, due to a change in weather patterns, the Colorado river level is falling forcing San Diego to look elsewhere for clean water (2). Another example is Melbourne's, and many other Australian cities', water supply that took a heavy hit during the Millennium Drought.
To fix problems like this desalination plants are being built. However, the processing of water in these plants is expensive ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 US dollars per acre-foot (of water), 10's to 100's of millions per year in maintenance (3) and billions to build the plants in the first place. The construction of these plants also require infrastructure that developing countries, countries that need clean water the most, simply do not have. The current and mainly used methods of desalination are reverse osmosis and thermal evaporation (2). Thermal desalination isn't commercially viable due to its intensive energy requirement so reverse osmosis plants have become the favored design. However, these plants have many consequences such as toxic waste pollution and killing of local wildlife (2). This industry is crucial to humanity's survival, yet it has so much room for improvement.
Despite humanity's access to a large supply of salt water and polluted fresh water, we are without an efficient and versatile means of making it safe to drink. This study aims to change that. This study aims to design, build and test an easy to use, highly efficient, solar powered and portable water purification method that can be used across the globe. This design will produce water via highly efficient evaporation which will cleanse it of contaminants, including microplastics. In this study a water vaporization enthalpy decreasing chitosan and PVA hydrogel was synthesized and freeze dried repeatedly at -80C to stimulate the expansion of pores within the hydrogel. Additionally, a multistage of these hydrogels was designed and is undergoing construction and testing in tandem with a solar tracking nested paraboloidal solar concentrator. It is hypothesized that this design will have a purification rate of ~10L per hour. The testing of the purification rate will depend on the quality of the prototype and the prototype's heat capacity. This design will also undergo field trials that will test its ease of use and its resistance to damage. The results of this study will determine the feasibility of this design in the real world and whether it can realistically be of benefit to those without clean water.
To fix problems like this desalination plants are being built. However, the processing of water in these plants is expensive ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 US dollars per acre-foot (of water), 10's to 100's of millions per year in maintenance (3) and billions to build the plants in the first place. The construction of these plants also require infrastructure that developing countries, countries that need clean water the most, simply do not have. The current and mainly used methods of desalination are reverse osmosis and thermal evaporation (2). Thermal desalination isn't commercially viable due to its intensive energy requirement so reverse osmosis plants have become the favored design. However, these plants have many consequences such as toxic waste pollution and killing of local wildlife (2). This industry is crucial to humanity's survival, yet it has so much room for improvement.
Despite humanity's access to a large supply of salt water and polluted fresh water, we are without an efficient and versatile means of making it safe to drink. This study aims to change that. This study aims to design, build and test an easy to use, highly efficient, solar powered and portable water purification method that can be used across the globe. This design will produce water via highly efficient evaporation which will cleanse it of contaminants, including microplastics. In this study a water vaporization enthalpy decreasing chitosan and PVA hydrogel was synthesized and freeze dried repeatedly at -80C to stimulate the expansion of pores within the hydrogel. Additionally, a multistage of these hydrogels was designed and is undergoing construction and testing in tandem with a solar tracking nested paraboloidal solar concentrator. It is hypothesized that this design will have a purification rate of ~10L per hour. The testing of the purification rate will depend on the quality of the prototype and the prototype's heat capacity. This design will also undergo field trials that will test its ease of use and its resistance to damage. The results of this study will determine the feasibility of this design in the real world and whether it can realistically be of benefit to those without clean water.
Comparing Grover's Quantum Search Algorithm with Classical Algorithm on Solving Satisfiability Problem
Runqian Wang (Princeton International School of Math and Science, USA)
4
The emergence of quantum computing provides us the possibility of solving tasks that might take years classically in just a few minutes. For certain problems, quantum computing exhibits quantum supremacy, meaning that the quantum solution runs exponentially faster than classical algorithms and is able to completely take over classical computers. This high efficiency of quantum computing comes not only from the hardware but also the software, quantum algorithms. The algorithms utilize the qubits to make calculations in order to fulfill specific tasks with the lowest time complexity possible. One such algorithm is named the Grover's algorithm, which is able to perform database search in O(sqrt(N)), and it runs much faster than the traditional algorithm that takes O(N) time to solve the same task. For example, when the task is to find the even integers from N integers, traditional computation will need to run through all of the N integers one by one, making at least N steps of calculation, while by using Grover's algorithm only around sqrt(N) calculations are needed. This exponential speed-up makes Grover's algorithm one of the most important quantum algorithms. Grover's algorithm has a wide application in many fields and is able to improve the time complexity exponentially. One task that can be solved using Grover's algorithm is the satisfiability problem. This type of problem asks the computer to find a set of values (commonly true or false) for several variables such that they satisfy certain constraints. We use k-SAT problems to refer to satisfiability problems with k boolean variables to be determined. Grover's algorithm can effectively solve the k-SAT problem by performing the database search on 2^N possible states of the variables. The algorithm's square root optimization on searching helps to improve the efficiency of this solution significantly. Furthermore, this optimization of Grover's algorithm may play a more important role when k grows larger, and consequently the efficiency of the quantum solution could improve faster relative to the traditional solution. Yet this hypothesis is never tested due to the lack of a general k-SAT quantum algorithm. No quantum algorithms solving k-SAT problems where k is greater than 3 have been proposed, thus no test has been performed to compare the quantum solution and the classical solution on more general k-SAT problems. In this research, we formulate a general quantum solution for k-SAT problem and compare such solution with the best classical algorithm to determine whether and when the quantum algorithm performs better on satisfiability problems. The comparison will be done through both theoretical deduction as well as real-world implementation. At the end of this research, we will determine whether the proposed quantum algorithm outperforms the classical algorithm on solving k-satisfiability problems.
"Making a mechanical hand with plastic drinking straws."
Sowmya Natarajan (Whittle School and Studios, USA)
4
Hi my name is Sowmya Natarajan and I will be presenting a mechanical hand made from plastic drinking straws. The purpose of this project is to be able to pick up objects using the fingers. I will have 5 strings controlling 5 different fingers. The fingers will be able to pick up objects such as water bottles and paper crushed into a ball. I got this idea from my mentor who suggested it, and she was also telling me how it corresponds to prosthetic arms. I was inspired by the fact that I could replicate something so high tech from everyday materials like plastic straws and string. However, while working on this project I came across many challenges. This led me to think about these questions. If you cut the holes the same size will the hand still work? If you cut the holes larger will the hand still move all the joints? If you cut the holes closer/farther together will it function better? After multiple tries I realized there was a formula to making the hand, and the formula answered all my questions. The first hole needs to be the largest hole the middle hole needs to be medium sized and the lowest hole needs to be the smallest hole. After knowing this I successfully made the hand.
Predictive Analytics in Agriculture using Geospatial Mapping
Sreya Jonnalagadda (Princeton International School of Matematics and Science, USA)
5
Smart farming has become increasingly popular over the past years and has been making great contributions to the agricultural industry. Techniques such as precision farming, predictive analytics, and geospatial visualization are being used in agriculture to help with efficiency, profitability, and optimization. In my research project, I plan on applying predictive analytics on local (New Jersey) farm data to discover and analyze future trends and patterns. Then, using geospatial mapping (utilizing the ArcGIS platform), the findings drawn from the data will be illustrated to provide clarity. These conclusions can be used to provide future direction and make further advancements. For example, an app(that displays the analytics and findings) can be created and translated to the farmers to help provide suggestions and allow them to understand their farms better. In addition, the findings could lead to a further study involving specific crops or technologies.
Household 3D Cream Printer for Cake Decoration
Junjing Zeng (Branksome Hall, Canada); Fangzhou Xia (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
9
Making beautifully decorated cakes at home can be a great joy for baking hobbyist especially during the time of social distancing. However, creating beautiful patterns on the cake is a labor-intensive task that requires a significant amount of skills. For novice bakers to create amazing custom cake decoration, 3D printers can be an invaluable tool. Since its invention in the 1980s, 3D printing technology has evolved significantly to enable various new fabrication capabilities. In the last decade, the food industry has also started to adopt this technology for printing chocolates, candies, dough, or meat. 3D printing has amazing flexibility to realize customized designs with complex geometry, which makes it ideal for cake decoration. Moreover, 3D printers have become widely available as affordable consumer electronics. Therefore, to reduce human labor and skill requirements, we intend to repurpose a 3D printer for cake decoration, which has not been realized before.
In this poster, we present the design of a Cream 3D Printer for cake decoration at home. The system is designed to create the desired geometry with cream, produce multiple materials/colors and be affordable (hundreds of dollars). For the initial investigation, the prototype design is modified from a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printer. The four primary subsystems include a 3-axis motion system, a material extruder, control algorithms, and an environment control chamber. For the 3-axis motion system, a Creality Ender 3 Pro 3D printer is selected as the basic structure since it is affordable, open-source, and well-supported by its community. The plastic material extruder is replaced by a custom-designed cream extruder. Whipped cream is placed in multiple syringes pushed by the slider on lead screws actuated by stepper motors. Plastic tubes are used to guide the cream from the syringes to the nozzle for ejection. Multiple nozzles or a single nozzle with multi-way valves can be used to select materials from the syringes. For the control system, G-code generated by the slicer from a Solidworks 3D design can be directly used for single material printing. To select between multiple materials, a custom Python program processes the G-code and uses serial communication to interface with the 3D printer Marlin firmware and an Arduino microcontroller. The environmental control chamber helps to cool the printed cream and improve its rigidity so that complex 3D shapes can be printed. The temperature control can be realized with simple commercial refrigeration systems.
At the current stage, the single nozzle cream extrusion capability is completed for the cream 3D printer. Coordinated control of the Ender 3 Pro 3-axis motion system and the custom nozzle has been realized for cream printing. We are currently investigating the effects of temperature and other printing parameters for various potential cream mixtures to identify the configurations suitable for printing. The multi-material printing capability will be developed after identifying suitable materials. With the 3D cream printer, we hope to empower novice baking hobbyist to create amazing cake decoration without years of practice.
In this poster, we present the design of a Cream 3D Printer for cake decoration at home. The system is designed to create the desired geometry with cream, produce multiple materials/colors and be affordable (hundreds of dollars). For the initial investigation, the prototype design is modified from a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printer. The four primary subsystems include a 3-axis motion system, a material extruder, control algorithms, and an environment control chamber. For the 3-axis motion system, a Creality Ender 3 Pro 3D printer is selected as the basic structure since it is affordable, open-source, and well-supported by its community. The plastic material extruder is replaced by a custom-designed cream extruder. Whipped cream is placed in multiple syringes pushed by the slider on lead screws actuated by stepper motors. Plastic tubes are used to guide the cream from the syringes to the nozzle for ejection. Multiple nozzles or a single nozzle with multi-way valves can be used to select materials from the syringes. For the control system, G-code generated by the slicer from a Solidworks 3D design can be directly used for single material printing. To select between multiple materials, a custom Python program processes the G-code and uses serial communication to interface with the 3D printer Marlin firmware and an Arduino microcontroller. The environmental control chamber helps to cool the printed cream and improve its rigidity so that complex 3D shapes can be printed. The temperature control can be realized with simple commercial refrigeration systems.
At the current stage, the single nozzle cream extrusion capability is completed for the cream 3D printer. Coordinated control of the Ender 3 Pro 3-axis motion system and the custom nozzle has been realized for cream printing. We are currently investigating the effects of temperature and other printing parameters for various potential cream mixtures to identify the configurations suitable for printing. The multi-material printing capability will be developed after identifying suitable materials. With the 3D cream printer, we hope to empower novice baking hobbyist to create amazing cake decoration without years of practice.
Low-cost Portable Ventilator Design for Underdeveloped Regions
Rui Wang (High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China); Fangzhou Xia (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
7
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly challenged the world in many ways especially for the medical sector. One of the most important challenge is the shortage of ventilators for COVID-19 treatment. In 2020, nearly one hundred million people have been infected globally, where at least ten percent of the patients may develop severe respiratory distress that require ventilators for treatment. Since conventional ventilators are high-end medical equipment not commonly used, the stock numbers are insufficient as cases surge. For example, around 2000 people share one ventilator in the U.S at the beginning of the pandemic. Such a shortage is even severer in underdeveloped countries such as the Central African Republic where millions of people need to share a single ventilator. On the other hand, ventilators are vital to increase the survival rate of patients in critical conditions. As the coronavirus damages lung function and impedes oxygen absorption, ventilators assist breathing by pressurizing air into lungs to maintain the blood oxygen concentration. Existing ventilators are not designed for handling the pandemic especially in third-world countries. High-end ventilators typically cost more than $10k per installment and cannot be easily produced. On the lower-end, Bag Valve Mask (BVM) requires manual pumping that yields high risk of infection. Researchers at MIT has developed automated BVM-based ventilator. However, the important functionalities for patient biometric sensing and doctor alarming are still missing from previous designs.
In this poster, we present our solution to this challenge by developing a low-cost portable ventilator with three main highlights. First, with $300 target budget, the system can be produced in large quantities for use at temporary mobile cabin hospitals. Second, a patient monitoring system for blood oxygen and electrocardiogram are included with wireless alarms to notify doctors in case of emergency. Third, the exhaled air will be disinfected by specialized filter to reduce the risk of cross infection. The oxygen supply mechanical subsystem design is centered around a BVM compressed using a mechanism driven by a stepper motor. Supplemental oxygen can also be added from portable canisters. The electrical subsystems are primarily based on the Arduino microcontroller platform for both oxygen supply control and sensor signal processing. A custom instrumentation-amplifier-based electrocardiogram circuit and an infrared oximeter sensor are designed to measure patient biometrics. A wireless communication scheme is realized with Bluetooth modules for remote monitoring and can operate as an alarm to the doctor. The assembled prototype is currently capable of supplying oxygen to normal adults with a lung capacity of 6000 ml. It can also conduct simple measurement of heart rate and blood oxygen concentration with remote monitoring. The on-going tasks involve selecting exhaled gas disinfecting filter and processing signals to identify abnormal biometrics. Additional work on improving the portability of the design with battery operation is also planned. We hope this affordable open-source design can help underdeveloped countries overcome the current challenges and be better prepared for future pandemic crisis.
In this poster, we present our solution to this challenge by developing a low-cost portable ventilator with three main highlights. First, with $300 target budget, the system can be produced in large quantities for use at temporary mobile cabin hospitals. Second, a patient monitoring system for blood oxygen and electrocardiogram are included with wireless alarms to notify doctors in case of emergency. Third, the exhaled air will be disinfected by specialized filter to reduce the risk of cross infection. The oxygen supply mechanical subsystem design is centered around a BVM compressed using a mechanism driven by a stepper motor. Supplemental oxygen can also be added from portable canisters. The electrical subsystems are primarily based on the Arduino microcontroller platform for both oxygen supply control and sensor signal processing. A custom instrumentation-amplifier-based electrocardiogram circuit and an infrared oximeter sensor are designed to measure patient biometrics. A wireless communication scheme is realized with Bluetooth modules for remote monitoring and can operate as an alarm to the doctor. The assembled prototype is currently capable of supplying oxygen to normal adults with a lung capacity of 6000 ml. It can also conduct simple measurement of heart rate and blood oxygen concentration with remote monitoring. The on-going tasks involve selecting exhaled gas disinfecting filter and processing signals to identify abnormal biometrics. Additional work on improving the portability of the design with battery operation is also planned. We hope this affordable open-source design can help underdeveloped countries overcome the current challenges and be better prepared for future pandemic crisis.
Water purification for human consumption
Sumanth R Moole (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, USA)
8
Project Objectives:
This project is to research, propose, and test the alternatives to the current water purification methods. Two most important objectives are to reduce the cost and make the solution available to the people with minimal infrastructure.
Problem Description:
Water is critical for life. Even though two thirds of the earth surface is covered with water, not all of it is suitable for human consumption. United Nations statistics show that 1.2 billion people, or almost one in every five, have water scarcity now and another 1.6 billion people do not have sufficient infrastructure to use the water available to them in rivers and aquifers (https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml).
Water extracted from rivers, lakes, and aquifers is not suitable for human consumption in most cases without purification. Water purification is expensive and difficult process which requires chemicals like Aluminum Sulfate. These chemicals interact with suspended solid particles in the water in a process called flocculation, which creates heavy particles that sink to the bottom. After flocculation, the clear water is further purified with Chlorine or other anti-microbial chemicals. These chemicals are produced in expensive factories and require transportation over long distances to reach the intended population. The infrastructure required to collect, purify, and distribute the water is very expensive and requires large capital investment for long term. These high costs and requirement of capital investments are further complicated in politically unstable regions of the world. In view of this background, there is a need to find innovative solutions to the water purification to reduce costs, capital investment, and bring the solutions to the needy people.
Research, proposed solution, and results:
This research was focused on how different civilizations in the past dealt with the water purification problem, especially when there were no chemicals, factories, and water supply infrastructure. Through this research of literature, one water purification method used by the Indian farmers since ancient times to purify the water available in the ponds they dug to collect the rain water in each field was selected for testing. The rain water collected in those ponds was contaminated by wild life excrements, mud, algae, etc. and was not suitable for human consumption. The farmers made thin pads from dry straw available in the fields and used them as covers for the pot openings. When the pots are dipped into the pond water, these pads filtered out the large contaminants like algae, fecal matter, and heavy mud. Then these pots of water are taken out, mixed with the powder of Moringa Oleifera (drumstick) seeds, let them settle for about 30 minutes or so depending on the size of the pot. The Moringa Oleifera causes flocculation. In addition, the Moringa Oleifera seems to have anti-microbial properties that kill organic contaminants as well. This project tested the effectiveness of Moringa Oleifera as a flocculant. The results proved that the Moringa Oleifera is as effective as the Aluminum Sulfate. This solution is small scale, easily implementable in remote locations, and cheaper.
This project is to research, propose, and test the alternatives to the current water purification methods. Two most important objectives are to reduce the cost and make the solution available to the people with minimal infrastructure.
Problem Description:
Water is critical for life. Even though two thirds of the earth surface is covered with water, not all of it is suitable for human consumption. United Nations statistics show that 1.2 billion people, or almost one in every five, have water scarcity now and another 1.6 billion people do not have sufficient infrastructure to use the water available to them in rivers and aquifers (https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml).
Water extracted from rivers, lakes, and aquifers is not suitable for human consumption in most cases without purification. Water purification is expensive and difficult process which requires chemicals like Aluminum Sulfate. These chemicals interact with suspended solid particles in the water in a process called flocculation, which creates heavy particles that sink to the bottom. After flocculation, the clear water is further purified with Chlorine or other anti-microbial chemicals. These chemicals are produced in expensive factories and require transportation over long distances to reach the intended population. The infrastructure required to collect, purify, and distribute the water is very expensive and requires large capital investment for long term. These high costs and requirement of capital investments are further complicated in politically unstable regions of the world. In view of this background, there is a need to find innovative solutions to the water purification to reduce costs, capital investment, and bring the solutions to the needy people.
Research, proposed solution, and results:
This research was focused on how different civilizations in the past dealt with the water purification problem, especially when there were no chemicals, factories, and water supply infrastructure. Through this research of literature, one water purification method used by the Indian farmers since ancient times to purify the water available in the ponds they dug to collect the rain water in each field was selected for testing. The rain water collected in those ponds was contaminated by wild life excrements, mud, algae, etc. and was not suitable for human consumption. The farmers made thin pads from dry straw available in the fields and used them as covers for the pot openings. When the pots are dipped into the pond water, these pads filtered out the large contaminants like algae, fecal matter, and heavy mud. Then these pots of water are taken out, mixed with the powder of Moringa Oleifera (drumstick) seeds, let them settle for about 30 minutes or so depending on the size of the pot. The Moringa Oleifera causes flocculation. In addition, the Moringa Oleifera seems to have anti-microbial properties that kill organic contaminants as well. This project tested the effectiveness of Moringa Oleifera as a flocculant. The results proved that the Moringa Oleifera is as effective as the Aluminum Sulfate. This solution is small scale, easily implementable in remote locations, and cheaper.
Comparison of effectiveness of Machine Learning algorithms for Vehicle Path Prediction
Sumanth R Moole (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, USA)
8
In modern warfare, intercepting moving enemy targets such as tanks, aircraft, missiles, and drones plays a crucial role. These targets are either controlled by enemy personnel or by sophisticated electronic systems. Therefore, their movements are best characterized by random motion subject to certain physical laws. Predicting these motions is extremely complex and often requires continuous tracking through sophisticated radar equipment.
Machine Learning algorithms, such as Artificial Neural Networks, have proven to be effective in learning many real world motions of vehicles on the roads and have been extensively used in the autonomous vehicles. Artificial Neural Networks use activation functions to determine the output of a model from the given observations. After training the model with appropriate activation function, the model can be used for predictions. In this process, the activation functions play a crucial role. Selecting the correct activation function is critical to the success of the model.
This project simulates the moving enemy target using a BristleBot (a brush-head fitted with vibrating motor which generates vibrations in the bristles thus propelling the BristleBot) which moves on a flat surface. The motion of the BristleBot is digitized by recording the X-Y coordinates on the path it has taken from the beginning of the run to the end of the run. These runs are repeated and data from multiple runs is stored in a database. Using R Programming language, a neural network training algorithm is simulated where the activation function can be changed (slope-intercept linear function - y = m*x + b - with various slopes and intercepts, quadratic function - y = a*x*x + b*x + c - with various a, b, and c values). The resulting models corresponding to each training session are compared with each other to find their similarity to the paths taken by the BristleBot. The effectiveness of these activation functions is then measured by the similarity score. The trained model (or the activation function) with best similarity score is then selected for predicting the future path of the BristleBot. This model then can be stored on a chip and interceptor vehicles can use it to predict the path and intercept the target.
This project is a simulation to demonstrate the usefulness of the Machine Learning algorithms (especially, Neural Networks) to train the models and store them on a chip that can guide the autonomous drones and missiles where sophisticated radar and satellite equipment are not feasible to guide them more accurately. Small inexpensive drones can be equipped with these chips to predict the paths of moving targets. Swarming with such drones is more economical in intercepting the targets. The simulation results with BristleBot are analyzed and similarity scores are obtained for different functions. These results indicate a reasonable effectiveness of quadratic functions for path prediction. The poster describes the simulation, linear and quadratic functions and their similarity scores, and the further research.
Machine Learning algorithms, such as Artificial Neural Networks, have proven to be effective in learning many real world motions of vehicles on the roads and have been extensively used in the autonomous vehicles. Artificial Neural Networks use activation functions to determine the output of a model from the given observations. After training the model with appropriate activation function, the model can be used for predictions. In this process, the activation functions play a crucial role. Selecting the correct activation function is critical to the success of the model.
This project simulates the moving enemy target using a BristleBot (a brush-head fitted with vibrating motor which generates vibrations in the bristles thus propelling the BristleBot) which moves on a flat surface. The motion of the BristleBot is digitized by recording the X-Y coordinates on the path it has taken from the beginning of the run to the end of the run. These runs are repeated and data from multiple runs is stored in a database. Using R Programming language, a neural network training algorithm is simulated where the activation function can be changed (slope-intercept linear function - y = m*x + b - with various slopes and intercepts, quadratic function - y = a*x*x + b*x + c - with various a, b, and c values). The resulting models corresponding to each training session are compared with each other to find their similarity to the paths taken by the BristleBot. The effectiveness of these activation functions is then measured by the similarity score. The trained model (or the activation function) with best similarity score is then selected for predicting the future path of the BristleBot. This model then can be stored on a chip and interceptor vehicles can use it to predict the path and intercept the target.
This project is a simulation to demonstrate the usefulness of the Machine Learning algorithms (especially, Neural Networks) to train the models and store them on a chip that can guide the autonomous drones and missiles where sophisticated radar and satellite equipment are not feasible to guide them more accurately. Small inexpensive drones can be equipped with these chips to predict the paths of moving targets. Swarming with such drones is more economical in intercepting the targets. The simulation results with BristleBot are analyzed and similarity scores are obtained for different functions. These results indicate a reasonable effectiveness of quadratic functions for path prediction. The poster describes the simulation, linear and quadratic functions and their similarity scores, and the further research.
Faraday's Motor and Electromagnetism
Vanisha S Nagali and Saniya Nagali (Allentown High School, USA)
6
Michael Faraday's apparatus was a feat in engineering, applying the new learnings of electromagnetism and connecting it to motion. This discovery revolutionized transportation, providing a basis for the sophisticated motors we have today.
Hans Christian Ørsted had discovered that the addition of electric current flowing through wire, would generate magnetism. André-Marie Ampère expanded on this discovery to state that said magnetism would produce a circular magnetic force, developing a cylinder circling the wire. Isolating the magnetic pole would cause the electrically-charged wire to move in a constant, circular motion. Faraday used this knowledge to develop the first electric motor, created in 1821, just a year after electromagnetism was discovered.
The original motor was composed of a wire hanging down into a glass vessel, having a permanent magnet secured to the bottom. Said vessel would also contain an electrified mercury pool; the entire apparatus would be connected to a battery. This mechanism spun the wire in a clockwise movement, revolving about the battery.
One can experiment with the principles of Faraday's motor by building a homopolar motor. A homopolar motor is composed of a AA battery placed atop two neodymium magnets and a copper wire. The copper wire is formed into a coil - having one side touch the positive end of the battery, and the other in contact with one of the magnets. The battery should be within the coil, so the wire can orbit it.
The rotational movement of the copper wire is due to the Lorentz force - the effect of the electromagnetic fields produced through the battery and magnets. Current passes through the positive terminal into the copper wire, which transfers it to the magnet and back to the battery, and thus, the circuit is complete. When the magnetic field is perpendicular to the current - from the copper wire - the Lorentz force is generated, prompting the perpetual circular motion of the coil. During my presentation, I will demonstrate how homopolar motors can be built, using limited materials in a classroom, to demonstrate electromagnetism to students of different age ranges.
Although Faraday's apparatus cannot be directly found in modern technology, the creation transformed many aspects of engineering. Being the first electric motor, it was the foundation for the motors in cars, boats, and other forms of transportation.
Hans Christian Ørsted had discovered that the addition of electric current flowing through wire, would generate magnetism. André-Marie Ampère expanded on this discovery to state that said magnetism would produce a circular magnetic force, developing a cylinder circling the wire. Isolating the magnetic pole would cause the electrically-charged wire to move in a constant, circular motion. Faraday used this knowledge to develop the first electric motor, created in 1821, just a year after electromagnetism was discovered.
The original motor was composed of a wire hanging down into a glass vessel, having a permanent magnet secured to the bottom. Said vessel would also contain an electrified mercury pool; the entire apparatus would be connected to a battery. This mechanism spun the wire in a clockwise movement, revolving about the battery.
One can experiment with the principles of Faraday's motor by building a homopolar motor. A homopolar motor is composed of a AA battery placed atop two neodymium magnets and a copper wire. The copper wire is formed into a coil - having one side touch the positive end of the battery, and the other in contact with one of the magnets. The battery should be within the coil, so the wire can orbit it.
The rotational movement of the copper wire is due to the Lorentz force - the effect of the electromagnetic fields produced through the battery and magnets. Current passes through the positive terminal into the copper wire, which transfers it to the magnet and back to the battery, and thus, the circuit is complete. When the magnetic field is perpendicular to the current - from the copper wire - the Lorentz force is generated, prompting the perpetual circular motion of the coil. During my presentation, I will demonstrate how homopolar motors can be built, using limited materials in a classroom, to demonstrate electromagnetism to students of different age ranges.
Although Faraday's apparatus cannot be directly found in modern technology, the creation transformed many aspects of engineering. Being the first electric motor, it was the foundation for the motors in cars, boats, and other forms of transportation.
Session Chair
To Be Determined
Session Poster-2
Poster Session 2
Conference
1:30 PM
—
3:00 PM EST
Local
Mar 13 Sat, 10:30 AM
—
12:00 PM PST
Roy. G. Biv: The Color Matching Application for Artists With Limited Pigments
Nina M Borodin, Sylvan Martin and Ryan Sokolowsky (Reservoir High School, USA)
1
When looking at a finished art piece, it is hard to discern what pigments are used to create a particular color. To aid art conservationists and novice artists in color replication, we developed an application that takes in the RGB values of the desired color and calculates the pigment ratios necessary for replicating that color. From a survey of 139 respondents, a total of 86.3% wish that there was a product that would calculate pigments to mix for a specific color. The user interface of the application is familiar and intuitive; it contains a camera screen that averages the RGB values within a crosshair, a screen displaying the calculated pigment ratio, and a color library in which a color and its associated pigment ratio are saved. The application has a 97.8% RGB scanning repeatability, showing that the RGB input is nearly identical each time a color is scanned. To train a machine learning model, a database of 872 hand-painted acrylic entries was constructed using a limited palette. The final training RMSE for the boosted tree model was 0.036 and the final testing RMSE was 0.141. The median color difference in the pigment values between the replicated color and the original color was 0.0668. This shows that the mixed color is 93.32% similar to the desired color. The application not only successfully extracts RGB values from a scanned image to tell the user the necessary pigment values for recreating a color, but also is unique in its non-spectral approach to subtractive color mixing.
Covid-19 Case Prediction using Nesting Fitting
Bomin Wei (Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, China)
10
In this study, we improved on the currently available models, logistic model for predicting the number of cases of Covid-19. The improved model, which we named Nesting Fitting, is a combination of common methods and models for fitting Covid-19 cases. The improvement was achieved by setting four free parameters in the Nesting Fitting model and then fitting the parameters on Covid-19 case number in different regions. We observed the summed model prediction can closely fit the Covid-19 case numbers in short time, and the biggest difference came from the tail in long time. The performance of the model was measured by mean square error of the fitting, and the basic model equation is
I(t)=a/(1+e^(-((t-b))/c) )+d
We closely examined the deviation of our model prediction and Covid-19 data and realized a second breakout of Covid-19 cases in the data was one of the major reasons. To correct for this, we cut off the fitting at an empirical value, so the fitting would only include the last outbreak. Errors of this treatment was observed and found to be almost linearly correlated to the number of days in a short term. We fitted this error correlation with a linear function and removed its contribution from the model.
The performance of the Nesting Fitting Method on a temporal series dataset is much better than logistic and sliding windows methods, because this model considers more parameters such as region and secondary outbreak. We also compared the prediction of total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world with three other methods. The results showed that the prediction using the Nesting Fitting Method is precise and should be suitable for the region where a second outbreak has happened.
In the future, this research could be conducted in the following three aspects. To begin with, we need to explain the meaning of the fitting parameters in terms of case counts development. Furthermore, modification of the model is needed to include prediction of a second breakout. Last but not least, we could consider a more complicated model to first predict parameters from known regions fittings for prediction of case counts in a new region.
I(t)=a/(1+e^(-((t-b))/c) )+d
We closely examined the deviation of our model prediction and Covid-19 data and realized a second breakout of Covid-19 cases in the data was one of the major reasons. To correct for this, we cut off the fitting at an empirical value, so the fitting would only include the last outbreak. Errors of this treatment was observed and found to be almost linearly correlated to the number of days in a short term. We fitted this error correlation with a linear function and removed its contribution from the model.
The performance of the Nesting Fitting Method on a temporal series dataset is much better than logistic and sliding windows methods, because this model considers more parameters such as region and secondary outbreak. We also compared the prediction of total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world with three other methods. The results showed that the prediction using the Nesting Fitting Method is precise and should be suitable for the region where a second outbreak has happened.
In the future, this research could be conducted in the following three aspects. To begin with, we need to explain the meaning of the fitting parameters in terms of case counts development. Furthermore, modification of the model is needed to include prediction of a second breakout. Last but not least, we could consider a more complicated model to first predict parameters from known regions fittings for prediction of case counts in a new region.
Identifying the Impacts of Digital Technologies on Labor Market: A Case Study in the Food Service Industry
Zeyi Ma (Beijing National Day School, China); Lufan Wang (Florida International University, USA)
5
Digital technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computation, and 5G communication are advancing at an ever-increasing pace, which have tremendously increased the labor efficiency and workforce productivity. However, there is an increasing concern about the threat of technology innovation - will machines replace human jobs, and will digital technologies cause mass unemployment in the future? To better respond to the upcoming workforce transitions and formulate coping strategies for technological displacement, it is necessary to identify the impacts of such digital technologies on future labor markets and answer questions such as how job demands would change and how required workforce skills would shift. In previous studies, some scholars have quantified the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the whole labor market. However, they over-generalized their models and lacked in-depth analyses considering the unique characteristics of different industries. To address this knowledge gap, this research specifically focuses on the food service industry, and takes McDonald's as a case study. The research methodology includes three main steps: 1) data collection, which aims to collect McDonald's annual financial reports from 2006-2019; 2) data extraction, which aims to extract six financial factors from the annual reports (i.e., total revenue, total cost, operating income, number of employees worldwide, number of restaurants worldwide, as well as payroll and employee benefit cost); and 3) data analysis, which aims to analyze and characterize the trend of the extracted data. The results indicate that, with the wide use of digital technologies, company's operation efficiency has been significantly improved and the number of required employees per restaurant have reduced nearly 70% since 2007. This change could be due to the evolving technology at McDonald's, such as the Company's global mobile app, self-order kiosks, and AI-driven models such as the conversational ordering interface. The results of this research provides a better understanding of the impacts of digital technologies and trends of job demands in the food service industry. In our future work, we will further extend the case study to different regions and different types of restaurants to verify if similar trend exists in the food service industry in general. We will also develop regression models to forecast the job demand, and propose possible strategies to prepare for and adapt to the potential work displacements.
Wheeled Jumping all-terrain drones with Combustion-driven Semi-active Suspension
Leonard Yu (Princeton International School of Math and Science, USA)
1
Vehicle suspension is a shock-absorbing system of linkages and absorbers between the tire and the chassis. This research aims to implement active shock absorbers, which are pistons that could expand and contract under control, on four-track all-terrain drones using double-wishbone suspension systems of weight 1.0kg to achieve the jumping ability. Due to the fact that a large scale of thrust is needed for all-terrain drones to take off in a jump, two approaches were taken towards designing and constructing a capable active shock absorber. In the first approach, an electromagnetic shock absorber is calculated under computer models on Autodesk Inventor to be feasible of generating sufficient thrust by alternating its magnetic field under 280V voltage. Later, prototype tests suggested that the actual voltage requirement is approximately 400V to 440V, which is unobtainable on devices within the 1.0kg weight limit. Over-idealization of electromagnetic efficiency is mainly responsible for the deviation in voltage requirement. In the second approach, a special set of linkage is attached to the conventional suspension system of all-terrain drones to allow an expandable methane combustion chamber to provide thrust through expansion. After verifying its feasibility through multiple mathematical models, current work in this research focuses on reducing the stress corrosion on the attached linkage to allow repetitive attempts of jumping.
Analyzing Sex-Biased Gene Expression in Autoimmune Diseases
Vidyadhari Vedula (Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, USA)
2
In this project, I plan to analyze sex-biased gene expression in autoimmune diseases by using a dataset containing information about people's cell counts. Autoimmune diseases happen when your immune system starts to attack its own healthy cells. No exact cause has been pinpointed, but some suspected causes are sex, race, genetics, and environmental factors. In terms of sex, autoimmune diseases are more prevalent in women than men. In all autoimmune disease cases, women make up 75% while men only make up 25%. Scientists have thought that this disparity could be due to hormonal factors. As we know, women have constantly fluctuating hormone levels, and this has been connected to autoimmune diseases. One study was performed to evaluate the effects of changing prolactin levels, a hormone that contributes to the production of milk in mammals. The study found mice with a prolactin-inhibitor had longer longevity and produced more antibodies that detect systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which is an autoimmune disease. On the other hand, mice with glands that produce more prolactin had accelerated mortality and proteins in their urine, which is a key symptom of SLE. For this project, I used R and RStudio, which is a programming language that allows me to analyze vast amounts of data. The database I used is called DICE which contains information about the donor's sex, race, ethnicity, and the count of various immune cells per 1 million transcripts. The data collection was done using RNA-Seq, which is a sequencing technique used to quantify RNA in a sample. In RStudio, the code I implemented followed a series of steps to build to a conclusion. To begin with, I eliminated data columns that aren't needed, after which I filtered the dataset into one with females and one with males. Next, I calculated the mean of each cell type for each divided dataset. Finally, I noted the differences in sexes by subtracting the male average from the female average for each cell type and calculating the absolute value of that difference. After this analysis, I found NK cells and Naive CD4+ T cells have the largest differences, each of which have been found to be abnormal in count or quality in people with autoimmune diseases. For future direction, I plan to narrow down on specific genes that contribute to the sex-disparity in autoimmune diseases.
Analysis and Construction of a Small International High School's Social Network
Daniella Reyes (Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, USA)
1
Social network analyses have been conducted in school settings before, revealing to researchers the nature of students' habits and trends. In this study I, along with my research partner, will create a social network illustrating the relationships between 81 high school students of diverse backgrounds and ages. We'd be assembling said social network through the use of an email game in which students are told to send a message to their closest friends, as we track the spread of the message. In addition, a follow-up survey will be sent, having students self-identify their closest friends and who they spend the most time with. In doing so, a comprehensive social network will be made illustrating the friendships of students. As for results, we aim to observe the nature of relationships in the school, answering questions like: do freshmen often make friends with upperclassmen? Additional information like the ages, nationalities, and genders of the students will allow us to find out if certain characteristics are shared among friends. The results of this research will be beneficial when trying to understand just how tight-knit the 81 students are.
The Floating Compass: A Demonstration of Electromagnetism and Lenz's Law
Helena Rittenhouse (Princeton University EPICS, USA)
1
An electromagnet is formed when the magnetic field is produced by an electric current, usually running through a wire coil. The floating compass is an easy, visual explanation of this and Lenz's Law, formulated by Heinrich Lenz in 1833. Lenz's Law states that the direction of the current will always flow such that it is opposite of the change in magnetic flux, or the measurement of the total magnetic field passing through a given area. Lenz's Law is also oftentimes incorporated with Faraday's Law which allows the same coordinate system to be used for both the flux and the electromotive force (EMF). For this reason, it could also be used as an introduction to Faraday's law.
The Floating Compass contains a needle that has been magnetized, then poked through a straw so it floats in a tank of water. A coil of wire is partially submerged in the water so that the middle of the circle of the coil is where the water ends. This coil is then attached to a switch and D4 batteries set up in parallel, creating a circuit with a current running through the coil, forming an electromagnet. Since the needle has been magnetized, it will then either go through the loop or be repelled. By flipping the switch the other way, the current's direction is flipped and the direction of the poles change, causing the needle to either do the opposite, demonstrating Lenz's law.
Having the magnetized needle floating on water stems from a discovery that Francois Arago made in 1822. He noticed that when the horizontal needle of a compass was suspended away from all foreign bodies, it settled at true north much faster than it did when it was not. This being true means that a needle floating in water, which is both away from foreign bodies which would affect oscillations necessary to settle and lacks surface friction and resistance, would come to rest much faster. For this reason, the needle in this experiment is floating (in water).
This project is very easy to replicate- all that is needed is a needle, a bar magnet, a straw, a container filled with water, some wire, D4 batteries, alligator clips, and battery holder packs (which are affordable/ often readily available ). The demonstration is also easily comprehensible, makes it a great project for teachers to use in the classroom to teach the concept of electromagnetism, Lenz's Law, and maybe even the basics of Faraday's law. These are all important branches of physics, and this is an easy way to explain them to people of all ages.
The floating compass itself does not have many modern-day applications, though it can be fun to play with as well as demonstrating a concept that is very widely used. Electromagnetism is used in many electrical appliances to produce magnetic fields, including speakers, motors, generators, hard disks, MRI machines, and many more. Electromagnetism was discovered over 200 years ago and every year, people find new genius ways to utilize it.
The Floating Compass contains a needle that has been magnetized, then poked through a straw so it floats in a tank of water. A coil of wire is partially submerged in the water so that the middle of the circle of the coil is where the water ends. This coil is then attached to a switch and D4 batteries set up in parallel, creating a circuit with a current running through the coil, forming an electromagnet. Since the needle has been magnetized, it will then either go through the loop or be repelled. By flipping the switch the other way, the current's direction is flipped and the direction of the poles change, causing the needle to either do the opposite, demonstrating Lenz's law.
Having the magnetized needle floating on water stems from a discovery that Francois Arago made in 1822. He noticed that when the horizontal needle of a compass was suspended away from all foreign bodies, it settled at true north much faster than it did when it was not. This being true means that a needle floating in water, which is both away from foreign bodies which would affect oscillations necessary to settle and lacks surface friction and resistance, would come to rest much faster. For this reason, the needle in this experiment is floating (in water).
This project is very easy to replicate- all that is needed is a needle, a bar magnet, a straw, a container filled with water, some wire, D4 batteries, alligator clips, and battery holder packs (which are affordable/ often readily available ). The demonstration is also easily comprehensible, makes it a great project for teachers to use in the classroom to teach the concept of electromagnetism, Lenz's Law, and maybe even the basics of Faraday's law. These are all important branches of physics, and this is an easy way to explain them to people of all ages.
The floating compass itself does not have many modern-day applications, though it can be fun to play with as well as demonstrating a concept that is very widely used. Electromagnetism is used in many electrical appliances to produce magnetic fields, including speakers, motors, generators, hard disks, MRI machines, and many more. Electromagnetism was discovered over 200 years ago and every year, people find new genius ways to utilize it.
Effects of Protein Concentration in Fish Feed on Physical and Chemical Water Pollution
Indeever Madireddy (BASIS Independent Silicon Valley, USA)
2
One of the seven characteristics of life is the ability to produce waste. Waste is the excess material an organism excretes after carrying out metabolic processes. Aquatic organisms like fish produce not only physical waste but also chemical wastes such as ammonia. Ammonia is excreted through fish gills and through their feces. In open aquatic environments, like oceans, rivers, and gulfs, this ammonia follows a nitrogenous pathway but is quickly eliminated from the system by plants, bacteria, and other microorganisms. In closed aquatic environments like aquaria and ornamental ponds, this ammonia also follows a nitrogenous pathway. As ammonia levels build-up from fish waste, a specific kind of bacteria called Nitrosomonas begins to grow. Nitrosomonas oxidizes this ammonia to produce nitrite. As nitrite levels build up, another bacteria called Nitrobacter begins to grow. Nitrobacter oxidizes this nitrite into nitrate. There is no bacteria in aquaria that can eliminate this nitrate, and thus, nitrate can only be removed by replacing the water. Ammonia and nitrite are incredibly toxic to aquatic life while nitrate is less toxic, but can get unhealthy at high concentrations. As long as ammonia is being produced, and the necessary bacteria are present, ammonia will be continually oxidized and nitrate will build up.
This research project determined three things. 1. How protein concentration in fish feed affected the build-up of nitrates 2. How protein concentration in fish feed affected the physical water clarity. 3. What concentration of protein ended up in the feces. Three different fish foods with a minimum protein concentration of 42%, 36%, and 28% were fed to three different species of fish: Pterophyllum Scalare (freshwater angelfish), Cyprinus rubrofuscus (Koi), and Carassius auratus (Tamasaba Goldfish). Each kind of food was fed to each species of fish for five days. At the end of this period, nitrate readings were taken to analyze the chemical pollution of the water.
To analyze the physical pollution of the water, the turbidity of the water was measured. To do this, a sample of fecal matter from each fish species from each type of food was diluted and mixed in water. After the feces settled out, the supernatant was analysed in a spectrophotometer.
To sum everything up, This research experiment determined how the protein concentration of fish food affected both the chemical (nitrate and protein) and physical pollution (turbidity) of aquaria and ponds.
This research project determined three things. 1. How protein concentration in fish feed affected the build-up of nitrates 2. How protein concentration in fish feed affected the physical water clarity. 3. What concentration of protein ended up in the feces. Three different fish foods with a minimum protein concentration of 42%, 36%, and 28% were fed to three different species of fish: Pterophyllum Scalare (freshwater angelfish), Cyprinus rubrofuscus (Koi), and Carassius auratus (Tamasaba Goldfish). Each kind of food was fed to each species of fish for five days. At the end of this period, nitrate readings were taken to analyze the chemical pollution of the water.
To analyze the physical pollution of the water, the turbidity of the water was measured. To do this, a sample of fecal matter from each fish species from each type of food was diluted and mixed in water. After the feces settled out, the supernatant was analysed in a spectrophotometer.
To sum everything up, This research experiment determined how the protein concentration of fish food affected both the chemical (nitrate and protein) and physical pollution (turbidity) of aquaria and ponds.
An Exploration Into Electromagnetic Generation
Kritika R Ravichander (8 Sweetbriar Court, USA)
1
If we suddenly lost batteries one day, our lives would be changed completely. I personally feel so discouraged whenever my phone or laptop battery dies, which always seems to happen when I have something really important to do. Oftentimes, I'm not in a place where I can easily plug in my charger, which makes it even more difficult. My struggles, however, are nothing compared to my relatives in India who sometimes have to walk miles for an outlet, and frequently run out of power in their house. I feel that exploring how to generate electricity with motion would help them through this by allowing them to simply push a button over and over, or pedal their legs in order to gain power.
Electricity and magnetism relate to each other, given that both the magnetic and electric fields depend on the movement of electrons. Changes in an electric field creates a magnetic field, and vise versa. This means that if you generate a magnetic field, then you will be able to generate current, which is known as induction. This is shown by Ampere's Law, or ∫B.dl = μ0I, where B = magnetic field, μ0 is the empty's permeability, and I is the path's enclosed electric current. It is also important to note Ohm's Law, or that voltage is the product of current and resistance. Since the strength of the magnetic field is directly related to the current in the wire, the magnitude of the magnetic field would increase with an increase in voltage in the circuit.
Attaching more magnets to an apparatus should increase the strength of the magnetic field, which should increase the amount of current. One can change factors such as the amount of magnets, and measure the products such as the amount of voltage. In order to produce a change in the magnetic field, one can attach the magnets to a spinning apparatus, such as a salad spinner, which would be above the electromagnet attached to a surface. That electromagnet would be attached to wires which would then be attached to a voltage meter to measure the voltage. It is important to keep the material and brand of magnets constant, as well as the electromagnet, materials used to set up the apparatus, and materials for the electric field.
Teachers in school would be able to make their own generator in the classroom using every day household objects. This would put into perspective how electricity is a part of objects around us. They can modify the apparatus as needed to show what factors affect electromagnetic fields and generation.
This project is exploring generators and electromagnetic fields on a small scale. This could be easily applied to a larger scale, including being able to power a house or a whole city. There is also flexibility with materials, meaning that new resources for generators can be explored.
Electricity and magnetism relate to each other, given that both the magnetic and electric fields depend on the movement of electrons. Changes in an electric field creates a magnetic field, and vise versa. This means that if you generate a magnetic field, then you will be able to generate current, which is known as induction. This is shown by Ampere's Law, or ∫B.dl = μ0I, where B = magnetic field, μ0 is the empty's permeability, and I is the path's enclosed electric current. It is also important to note Ohm's Law, or that voltage is the product of current and resistance. Since the strength of the magnetic field is directly related to the current in the wire, the magnitude of the magnetic field would increase with an increase in voltage in the circuit.
Attaching more magnets to an apparatus should increase the strength of the magnetic field, which should increase the amount of current. One can change factors such as the amount of magnets, and measure the products such as the amount of voltage. In order to produce a change in the magnetic field, one can attach the magnets to a spinning apparatus, such as a salad spinner, which would be above the electromagnet attached to a surface. That electromagnet would be attached to wires which would then be attached to a voltage meter to measure the voltage. It is important to keep the material and brand of magnets constant, as well as the electromagnet, materials used to set up the apparatus, and materials for the electric field.
Teachers in school would be able to make their own generator in the classroom using every day household objects. This would put into perspective how electricity is a part of objects around us. They can modify the apparatus as needed to show what factors affect electromagnetic fields and generation.
This project is exploring generators and electromagnetic fields on a small scale. This could be easily applied to a larger scale, including being able to power a house or a whole city. There is also flexibility with materials, meaning that new resources for generators can be explored.
Exposure to Navajo through Game Development: Guess the Number
KayDence N Low Dog (Navajo Preparatory School, USA); Jude J Thomas (Navajo, USA); Kritika R Ravichander (8 Sweetbriar Court, USA)
5
The Navajo culture, like many other indigenous cultures, is slowly dying, generation by generation. Many Navajo children are not exposed to their mother tongue, and are forced to turn to their grandparents if they want to learn their language. Cultural heritage is something to take pride in, yet it is slipping out of the hands of many indigenous tribes. In many cases, the generation of grandparents are the only ones with any cultural knowledge left, especially about the language. As they age, younger generations slowly have limited options, and many could only learn through school teachers on their reservations. Unfortunately, it is uncommon for indigenous languages to be taught in school, and fewer parents can make up for the lack of content in school. Many indigenous languages have become extinct, with others, like Navajo, on the verge of meeting the same fate.
Our game, Guess the Number, is designed and programmed in Unity, a game development program. The platform works together with C# script(s) so that a random number is generated, and users can enter numbers. The code compares the user input to the random number, and sends messages based on its comparisons. The platform has the capacity to be audiovisual, and both the numbers and messages can be in Navajo and/or English.
Teachers, especially those on reservations, can use this game to effectively expose and teach the Navajo language to students. Playing this game in math classes is also a fun and effective way to introduce the concept of integers being less than or greater than each other. The best time to learn a language is as a child, so it is important this game is incorporated in the elementary levels to increase access. An advantage of using this game in class is that there is little to no academic pressure in learning through a game, as opposed to traditional methods.
This introduces games that represent Navajo culture in a mainstream sense, while exposing children to number systems and counting in a multilingual way. The project also ensures the language is learned while playing through. It gives children examples to be inspired by when creating their own projects, as well.
Our game, Guess the Number, is designed and programmed in Unity, a game development program. The platform works together with C# script(s) so that a random number is generated, and users can enter numbers. The code compares the user input to the random number, and sends messages based on its comparisons. The platform has the capacity to be audiovisual, and both the numbers and messages can be in Navajo and/or English.
Teachers, especially those on reservations, can use this game to effectively expose and teach the Navajo language to students. Playing this game in math classes is also a fun and effective way to introduce the concept of integers being less than or greater than each other. The best time to learn a language is as a child, so it is important this game is incorporated in the elementary levels to increase access. An advantage of using this game in class is that there is little to no academic pressure in learning through a game, as opposed to traditional methods.
This introduces games that represent Navajo culture in a mainstream sense, while exposing children to number systems and counting in a multilingual way. The project also ensures the language is learned while playing through. It gives children examples to be inspired by when creating their own projects, as well.
Navajo Language Preservation AI
Nalanaya N Austin and Tymerah R Chischilly (Navajo Preparatory School, USA)
2
Diné is a name which translates to "the people" in the Navajo language. In one way, "the people" has a strong meaning of independence, strength, and endurance. As a Southwestern Native American, our cultural language is of significant importance to us. This would be a normal assumption of all cultures being that our identity is vital in being a traditional person. Our language is critical because everything we know as a Navajo is passed down within our families. From one generation to the next, our teachings, stories, and practices were taught to us in our language.
The Diné language is communicated orally. We would want to develop a game system in which to teach others the Navajo language. Our game would be introduced as an AI. What this system would do is create a conversation with another person using Navajo. This would help the user maintain a conversation in Navajo. It starts with the Navajo greeting, 'Yá'át'ééh, _____', and have the user's name inserted. As the conversation prolongs, in between the user and AI, the more Navajo is used and less English will be used. The desired result would be for the user to have a complete conversation in Navajo.
A product made for the success of only the developer lacks when the audience is not addressed. In this case, teachers and students are the aimed users. Our game design is intended to teach. The game is formatted for easy use, accessibility, and straightforwardness. A classroom is the perfect setting for this. Teachers can use the AI for teaching students Navajo. Our AI is aiming to start in a simple conversation including both English and Navajo, and as progressing along, the AI will focus more on Navajo.
Forgotten language is common in Native American communities. People born in present times lack the fluency of speaking Navajo. It is not taught as often, not taught accurately enough, and is slowly disappearing. This game lays out the foundation of teaching Navajo virtually to others for those who would not have the resources otherwise to be taught. As from first person and third person views, the Navajo language is not the only language being neglected. We have Cherokee, Hopi, Crows, and many other respected tribes with their language being abandoned. This AI is a stepping stone in the revitalization of the Navajo language. This will also create a foundation for other tribes to do the same for their language.
The Diné language is communicated orally. We would want to develop a game system in which to teach others the Navajo language. Our game would be introduced as an AI. What this system would do is create a conversation with another person using Navajo. This would help the user maintain a conversation in Navajo. It starts with the Navajo greeting, 'Yá'át'ééh, _____', and have the user's name inserted. As the conversation prolongs, in between the user and AI, the more Navajo is used and less English will be used. The desired result would be for the user to have a complete conversation in Navajo.
A product made for the success of only the developer lacks when the audience is not addressed. In this case, teachers and students are the aimed users. Our game design is intended to teach. The game is formatted for easy use, accessibility, and straightforwardness. A classroom is the perfect setting for this. Teachers can use the AI for teaching students Navajo. Our AI is aiming to start in a simple conversation including both English and Navajo, and as progressing along, the AI will focus more on Navajo.
Forgotten language is common in Native American communities. People born in present times lack the fluency of speaking Navajo. It is not taught as often, not taught accurately enough, and is slowly disappearing. This game lays out the foundation of teaching Navajo virtually to others for those who would not have the resources otherwise to be taught. As from first person and third person views, the Navajo language is not the only language being neglected. We have Cherokee, Hopi, Crows, and many other respected tribes with their language being abandoned. This AI is a stepping stone in the revitalization of the Navajo language. This will also create a foundation for other tribes to do the same for their language.
Session Chair
To Be Determined
Session Poster-3
Poster Session 3
Conference
3:00 PM
—
4:45 PM EST
Local
Mar 13 Sat, 12:00 PM
—
1:45 PM PST
Zoetrope Abstract by Anish Chaganti
Anish Chaganti (JP Stevens High School, USA)
0
Zoetrope Abstract
By: Anish Chaganti
The Zoetrope is a cylindrical shaped device that shows pre - picture animations which provide illusions to the human eye by showing a set of pictures moving as you progressively spin the device creating constant phases of motion. The device was originally named "Doedaleum" by an English mathematician named William George Horner in the 19th century and was modified throughout the years.
The Zoetrope device was so significant because it was the earliest form of recording animations and events through pictures before phones and cameras even existed. The Zoetrope is a spinning cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. There is a row of sequential images on the inside of the cylinder The user should look through the cuts and see the pictures move while the cylinder is moving.
It was the earliest form of 3D image available even before phones and cameras were invented where you can see pictures move through an illusion of motion. Cinematography is hugely influenced by the zoetrope due to the zoetrope's ability to create effects through motion presenting closely related images from one to another, paving its way to the future of CGI, graphics, and effects.
In our modern day classroom, teachers can use this to demonstrate rotation and motion to students. It's extremely user - friendly and gives an insight of how a zoetrope operates and how it influences modern day gadgets we use today on a daily basis. Students can see the origination of GIF, animations, and motion pictures and learn how rotation and motion works by testing the zoetrope. A practical demonstration will allow the students to gain a broader understanding of the topic, understand how a zoetrope works, and figure out how to make one as well. The Zoetrope plays an important role when it comes to physics because a lot of explanations/theses of the theories are present in the device allowing the student to learn in an abstract way where they can benefit from, rather than traditional board and marker.
Zoetrope influence laid the foundation of a further improvised technology i.e Praxinoscope discovered in 1877. A Praxinoscope is a modified version of the Zoetrope but it included projection in it where moving images can now be portrayed on a screen . The fascinating part of the Praxinoscope was that it brought images to life without looking into a zoetrope to figure out what is going on. The images were visible to the naked eye and the audience would watch movies through a projector. Without the impact of the Zoetrope, the visual media would not have existed today and we wouldn't have seen the creativity outburst of modern day motion pictures. "Small things lead to big things which can possibly change the world in a matter of time."
By: Anish Chaganti
The Zoetrope is a cylindrical shaped device that shows pre - picture animations which provide illusions to the human eye by showing a set of pictures moving as you progressively spin the device creating constant phases of motion. The device was originally named "Doedaleum" by an English mathematician named William George Horner in the 19th century and was modified throughout the years.
The Zoetrope device was so significant because it was the earliest form of recording animations and events through pictures before phones and cameras even existed. The Zoetrope is a spinning cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. There is a row of sequential images on the inside of the cylinder The user should look through the cuts and see the pictures move while the cylinder is moving.
It was the earliest form of 3D image available even before phones and cameras were invented where you can see pictures move through an illusion of motion. Cinematography is hugely influenced by the zoetrope due to the zoetrope's ability to create effects through motion presenting closely related images from one to another, paving its way to the future of CGI, graphics, and effects.
In our modern day classroom, teachers can use this to demonstrate rotation and motion to students. It's extremely user - friendly and gives an insight of how a zoetrope operates and how it influences modern day gadgets we use today on a daily basis. Students can see the origination of GIF, animations, and motion pictures and learn how rotation and motion works by testing the zoetrope. A practical demonstration will allow the students to gain a broader understanding of the topic, understand how a zoetrope works, and figure out how to make one as well. The Zoetrope plays an important role when it comes to physics because a lot of explanations/theses of the theories are present in the device allowing the student to learn in an abstract way where they can benefit from, rather than traditional board and marker.
Zoetrope influence laid the foundation of a further improvised technology i.e Praxinoscope discovered in 1877. A Praxinoscope is a modified version of the Zoetrope but it included projection in it where moving images can now be portrayed on a screen . The fascinating part of the Praxinoscope was that it brought images to life without looking into a zoetrope to figure out what is going on. The images were visible to the naked eye and the audience would watch movies through a projector. Without the impact of the Zoetrope, the visual media would not have existed today and we wouldn't have seen the creativity outburst of modern day motion pictures. "Small things lead to big things which can possibly change the world in a matter of time."
Edison High School WiSTEM | FOCUS: Addressing Female Underrepresentation in STEM
Vasumathi Venkat (Edison High School & WiSTEM | FOCUS club, USA); Ishani Kunadharaju (Edison High School & WiSTEM | FOCUS club, USA)
1
Foundation:
STEM research has the potential to revolutionize a variety of fields, alleviating real-world problems on a global scale. Yet, half of the world's population seems to be excluded from input on the technology that is meant to change their lives. Women are chronically underrepresented in STEM fields due to gender stereotypes and a lack of self-confidence in a male-dominated sector (Ertl, Luttenberger, & Paechter, 2017).
Noticing this gender disparity within their own community, Edison High School STEM Academy juniors Vasumathi Venkat and Ishani Kunadharaju formed a club based on the principles of activism and passion for STEM. Mirroring the initiative at the Rutgers WiSTEM2D Conference, which featured the work and journeys of female professionals in the STEM fields, WiSTEM | FOCUS (Women-in-STEM | Female Opportunities Created Using STEM) was created.
Mission:
The purpose of this club is to empower girls through STEM. Our club hosts various projects that focus on allowing students, especially future women leaders in STEM, to find more opportunities in STEM fields. Additionally, we aim to introduce the mission and resources of the global WiSTEM (Women-in-STEM) movement to our local community.
Community Outreach:
This year, our club launched Project I3, an initiative in which our members host informative STEM-based seminars for middle schoolers. These mini-lessons aim to teach middle schoolers niche topics that are not covered in the school curriculum, including the COVID-19 vaccine, CRISPR Cas-9 technology, chemical crime-scene analysis, and lucid dreaming science. Currently, the presentations are being delivered through Zoom due to remote learning. However, more lab-based activities will be conducted as school returns to an in-person format. Throughout the year, our club will incorporate one-day activities, such as Scratch Night to teach coding to elementary schoolers and a STEM Trivia Bowl to encourage connections between middle and high school students. Together, these programs make STEM more accessible to students from a young age.
Developing Opportunities:
Simultaneously, our club runs projects to augment the skills of our own members. Some members participated in HackJA 2021, a virtual beginner-level hackathon. After this experience, our club plans to promote interest in computer science through Hackathon 101 sessions for aspiring coders. To motivate our members, we also host female Edison High School alum in STEM fields as guest speakers.
Additionally, our club will join several team-based competitions such as the Thomas Edison Pitch Contest and the iGEM competition. The goal of participating in these competitive activities is to help eliminate the stereotype that STEM and competition is designed only for males (Meyer, Cimpian, & Leslie, 2015).
STEM research has the potential to revolutionize a variety of fields, alleviating real-world problems on a global scale. Yet, half of the world's population seems to be excluded from input on the technology that is meant to change their lives. Women are chronically underrepresented in STEM fields due to gender stereotypes and a lack of self-confidence in a male-dominated sector (Ertl, Luttenberger, & Paechter, 2017).
Noticing this gender disparity within their own community, Edison High School STEM Academy juniors Vasumathi Venkat and Ishani Kunadharaju formed a club based on the principles of activism and passion for STEM. Mirroring the initiative at the Rutgers WiSTEM2D Conference, which featured the work and journeys of female professionals in the STEM fields, WiSTEM | FOCUS (Women-in-STEM | Female Opportunities Created Using STEM) was created.
Mission:
The purpose of this club is to empower girls through STEM. Our club hosts various projects that focus on allowing students, especially future women leaders in STEM, to find more opportunities in STEM fields. Additionally, we aim to introduce the mission and resources of the global WiSTEM (Women-in-STEM) movement to our local community.
Community Outreach:
This year, our club launched Project I3, an initiative in which our members host informative STEM-based seminars for middle schoolers. These mini-lessons aim to teach middle schoolers niche topics that are not covered in the school curriculum, including the COVID-19 vaccine, CRISPR Cas-9 technology, chemical crime-scene analysis, and lucid dreaming science. Currently, the presentations are being delivered through Zoom due to remote learning. However, more lab-based activities will be conducted as school returns to an in-person format. Throughout the year, our club will incorporate one-day activities, such as Scratch Night to teach coding to elementary schoolers and a STEM Trivia Bowl to encourage connections between middle and high school students. Together, these programs make STEM more accessible to students from a young age.
Developing Opportunities:
Simultaneously, our club runs projects to augment the skills of our own members. Some members participated in HackJA 2021, a virtual beginner-level hackathon. After this experience, our club plans to promote interest in computer science through Hackathon 101 sessions for aspiring coders. To motivate our members, we also host female Edison High School alum in STEM fields as guest speakers.
Additionally, our club will join several team-based competitions such as the Thomas Edison Pitch Contest and the iGEM competition. The goal of participating in these competitive activities is to help eliminate the stereotype that STEM and competition is designed only for males (Meyer, Cimpian, & Leslie, 2015).
Navajo Code Talker Game
Nathan A Henry (USA)
2
Historical Significance - The game is based on Navajo Code Talkers who were significant members of the marines during World War II. The use of the Navajo Language was instrumental in defeating the Japanese during the Second World War. The Navajo Language is currently in threat of going extinct. According to the Navajo Times "In 1980, 93 percent of Navajos spoke the language. Ten years later, in 1990 it had declined to 84 percent. In 2000 the percentage of Navajo people who spoke Navajo was at 76 percent. Another decade later, in 2010, the Navajo language showed its most stark decline to date, to 51 percent." If these trends have continued into 2020, that number will have fallen to around 39 percent. And in 10 years it could mean only 20 percent
Project Description - This game seeks to emulate the Navajo Code talker language in an engaging battle type scenario. This game will preserve the Navajo Language and develop awareness of the historical contributions of the Navajo People.
Game based loosely on Battleship combined with Navajo language. One team tries to gain points by coding with the Navajo Code Talker code and the other tries to stop them. This game teaches parts of the Navajo Language so that the players may gain an understanding of it.
The game is directed toward younger people who aren't that familiar with the Navajo Language. That way it may preserve the language by teaching it to a younger generation.
The future of this project could be to expand the game to include other indigenous languages that need preservation.
Sources
"Data Shows Huge Reduction in Diné Speakers." Navajo Times, Navajo Times Publishing, 16 Nov. 2017, navajotimes.com/reznews/data-shows-huge-reduction-in-dine-speakers/#:~: text=While%20the%20Navajo%20language%20has%207, 600%20Navajoonly%20speakers, the%20Office%20of%20Standards, %20Curriculum%20and%20Assessment%20Development.
Project Description - This game seeks to emulate the Navajo Code talker language in an engaging battle type scenario. This game will preserve the Navajo Language and develop awareness of the historical contributions of the Navajo People.
Game based loosely on Battleship combined with Navajo language. One team tries to gain points by coding with the Navajo Code Talker code and the other tries to stop them. This game teaches parts of the Navajo Language so that the players may gain an understanding of it.
The game is directed toward younger people who aren't that familiar with the Navajo Language. That way it may preserve the language by teaching it to a younger generation.
The future of this project could be to expand the game to include other indigenous languages that need preservation.
Sources
"Data Shows Huge Reduction in Diné Speakers." Navajo Times, Navajo Times Publishing, 16 Nov. 2017, navajotimes.com/reznews/data-shows-huge-reduction-in-dine-speakers/#:~: text=While%20the%20Navajo%20language%20has%207, 600%20Navajoonly%20speakers, the%20Office%20of%20Standards, %20Curriculum%20and%20Assessment%20Development.
Teaching the Navajo Language Through a Coded Game
Yilnazbah R Wauneka-Yellowhorse (414 Julie Dr & BlueCross BlueShield, USA); Jordyn Begay and Jaci Hood (Navajo Preparatory School, USA); Richard J Wegmann (USA); Alana E Smith (Navajo Preparatory School, USA)
4
Forty years ago, 93% of the Navajo population were fluent Navajo speakers. Presently, only 52% of the Navajo people can speak their native language. The Navajo language is slowly being forgotten due to the lack of education for Native American youth and a growing necessity to learn English for upward mobility.
To prevent the percentage of Navajo speakers from rapidly decreasing and possibly being forgotten within the next few decades, we've designed and coded a math puzzle which incorporates elements of Native American culture and Navajo language. The puzzle would help teach Navajo counting among not only Native American youth, but also others interested in learning the Navajo language.
This game can be used competitively in classrooms, as a fun, challenging family activity, or individually as a way to learn another language and see improvements within yourself. Our goal is to preserve the Navajo language within the Navajo Nation as well as extending the language to others outside the community.
To prevent the percentage of Navajo speakers from rapidly decreasing and possibly being forgotten within the next few decades, we've designed and coded a math puzzle which incorporates elements of Native American culture and Navajo language. The puzzle would help teach Navajo counting among not only Native American youth, but also others interested in learning the Navajo language.
This game can be used competitively in classrooms, as a fun, challenging family activity, or individually as a way to learn another language and see improvements within yourself. Our goal is to preserve the Navajo language within the Navajo Nation as well as extending the language to others outside the community.
The application of precision medicine for diabetes treatment
Ziqi Ma (Beijing Royal School, China)
4
Precision medicine has evolved from an initial focus on personalized medicine based on genetics to a broader notion that includes diagnosis, prediction, prevention, monitoring, treatment and prognostics by integrating multi-dimensional data from biological and extrinsic environments. It is beneficial to health problems, especially type II and gestational diabetes since both types are closely relevant to genetics and personal life habits. Our long-term goal is to continuously develop an app that monitors patients' real-time glucose fluctuations by using optical glucose sensors paired with a modified cell phone while tracking important information about individuals' unique biology, environment, and context to determine their potential risk factors. Helpful reminders are provided by integrating and analyzing individual data pool to minimize the exposure to specific risks. In this work, we use a proof-of-concept fluorescent glucose sensor implanted under a person's skin. The sensor's key mechanism is by applying the chemical equilibrium of Boronate formation between a Boronate Ester and Glucose to form a Glucose-Derived Bornite Ester. When alizarin-phenylboronic acid (fluorescent) binds with glucose, it will be dissociated into glucose-derived Boronate Ester (Not Fluorescent). Therefore, the change in fluorescence intensity corresponds to the glucose concentration. The modified cell phone measures the glucose levels by scanning the sensor spot, and fluorescence readout is then transmitted to our developed app. Furthermore, information such as weight, diet, excise and mental health are also recorded. With such information, the algorithm we developed in the app can interpret the personal data and finally generate a report that will be a significant reference in the precision diabetes therapy strategy. The app can also learn the user's lifestyle and provide some suggestions, such as the number of calories in one meal and the type of exercise the people should do. Furthermore, we will have a social component in the app where users have opportunity to interact with their friends and followers to learn their healthy activities such as physical exercises. We believe that reminding people of paying attention to their health and guiding them to a healthy lifestyle will be the most meaningful goal of our work.
Franklin's Bells: Converting Electrical Energy Into Continuous Mechanical Motion
Stella C Firmenich (Engineering Projects In Community Service, Princeton University & Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, USA)
1
In a letter to his friend, Benjamin Franklin writes about an experiment he conducted, now called the Franklin's Bells. He writes, "In September 1752, I erected an iron rod to draw the lightning down into my house, in order to make some experiments on it, with two bells to give notice when the rod should be electrify'd." His setup was an adaptation of one made in 1742 by a German professor named Andrew Gordon. Franklin's Bells was an early demonstration of electrical charge and is one of the earliest examples of converting electrical energy into continuous mechanical motion. Franklin's setup consists of two metal vessels with a metal clapper hanging on a non-conductive line between the two. There is an electrical current connected to one vessel, and another is placed on a non-conductive surface.
How Franklin's Bells works is that when a positive charge is brought to one of the vessels, it attracts the negatively charged clapper. The clapper hits the vessel and then absorbs that charge and gets repelled. The now positively charged clapper gets attracted to the negatively charged vessel and the process repeats. It repeats until the charge has evened out again. The original Franklin's Bells used an electrical rod for the electrical current and the setup rang during thunderstorms. Occasionally it would ring without thunder, hinting at electrical charges in the air.
Franklin's Bells is also easily replicated using two aluminum cans, a soda tab, some string, a straw, a plastic lid, and an electrical source. The electrical source can be from rubbing a pvc pipe with wool or any other method to get static electricity. Place one aluminum can so it rests on top of the plastic lid and then place the other can about 1 ½ inches away from it. Tie a soda tab to the end of the string. Take the string and tie it around the middle of the straw and balance the straw between the two cans so the tab rests between the cans. To get the tab moving, bring an electrical source near one can. For example, rub a pvc pipe with wool to collect static electricity and then bring the pipe to a can.
Teachers can use this demonstration in their classroom to show how electrical energy can be converted into a continuous mechanical energy. It is a fun experiment that is low cost, yet highly effective, and can easily be replicated by every student in the class.
I have been recreating this experiment and researching it for three months. The opportunity to do it was provided by a program run by Professor Littman at Princeton University called Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS). The purpose of EPICS is to recreate historical devices in electromagnetism and share these projects with the community by presenting them at local libraries, schools, and other events.
How Franklin's Bells works is that when a positive charge is brought to one of the vessels, it attracts the negatively charged clapper. The clapper hits the vessel and then absorbs that charge and gets repelled. The now positively charged clapper gets attracted to the negatively charged vessel and the process repeats. It repeats until the charge has evened out again. The original Franklin's Bells used an electrical rod for the electrical current and the setup rang during thunderstorms. Occasionally it would ring without thunder, hinting at electrical charges in the air.
Franklin's Bells is also easily replicated using two aluminum cans, a soda tab, some string, a straw, a plastic lid, and an electrical source. The electrical source can be from rubbing a pvc pipe with wool or any other method to get static electricity. Place one aluminum can so it rests on top of the plastic lid and then place the other can about 1 ½ inches away from it. Tie a soda tab to the end of the string. Take the string and tie it around the middle of the straw and balance the straw between the two cans so the tab rests between the cans. To get the tab moving, bring an electrical source near one can. For example, rub a pvc pipe with wool to collect static electricity and then bring the pipe to a can.
Teachers can use this demonstration in their classroom to show how electrical energy can be converted into a continuous mechanical energy. It is a fun experiment that is low cost, yet highly effective, and can easily be replicated by every student in the class.
I have been recreating this experiment and researching it for three months. The opportunity to do it was provided by a program run by Professor Littman at Princeton University called Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS). The purpose of EPICS is to recreate historical devices in electromagnetism and share these projects with the community by presenting them at local libraries, schools, and other events.
A Design of the Extrusion System for Chocolate 3D Printing
Hong Jiang (Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, China)
1
Food 3D printing is one of the newest developments in food design and manufacturing with great potential in both food recipe and industrial processing. Chocolate 3D printing, especially, has received investment from big companies like Hersey and 3D System. Unlike the traditional production of customized food, which requires extensive skilled labor and a long process of molding, 3D printing food allows users to design the shape by editing the digital model file.
However, there are problems with the current chocolate printers that need to improve to make them popular. The first problem is that price is too high for individual users and small stores. Most people could not afford a printer that is about several thousand dollars, not to mention the expensive printer-specific material. Another problem is the ability of the printer. Some printers can only produce few default shapes set by the producer, so users do not have much freedom to print the shapes they want. This limits the ability that is supposed to be the biggest advantage of the 3D printer. And one of the biggest weaknesses of the current chocolate 3D printers is that they cannot perform tempering, a critical process in chocolate production. Without chocolate tempering, the final product chocolate will not have a smooth, glossy texture that is preferred for desserts. So the printer cannot be used for high-end dessert production.
The goal of this research is meant to design an extrusion system of the chocolate printer to solve these problems mentioned above. The goal of the printer is that it can take chocolate chips, temper the chocolate, extrude it out and form shape according to the design. It is designed to be constructed with cheap materials while having accurate control of temperature during the printing process. This research is planned to last for two years long and now I am halfway through the first year. My current plan is to work on a commercial 3D printer and replace its extrusion system with my design. The general frame of the printer is kept because that is not the focus of this research. Right now, I have finished my design of the extruder in 3D models and start building and testing prototypes. In future research, I would expect to have the extrusion system assembled on the 3D printer and investigating the optimal working condition for chocolate printing.
However, there are problems with the current chocolate printers that need to improve to make them popular. The first problem is that price is too high for individual users and small stores. Most people could not afford a printer that is about several thousand dollars, not to mention the expensive printer-specific material. Another problem is the ability of the printer. Some printers can only produce few default shapes set by the producer, so users do not have much freedom to print the shapes they want. This limits the ability that is supposed to be the biggest advantage of the 3D printer. And one of the biggest weaknesses of the current chocolate 3D printers is that they cannot perform tempering, a critical process in chocolate production. Without chocolate tempering, the final product chocolate will not have a smooth, glossy texture that is preferred for desserts. So the printer cannot be used for high-end dessert production.
The goal of this research is meant to design an extrusion system of the chocolate printer to solve these problems mentioned above. The goal of the printer is that it can take chocolate chips, temper the chocolate, extrude it out and form shape according to the design. It is designed to be constructed with cheap materials while having accurate control of temperature during the printing process. This research is planned to last for two years long and now I am halfway through the first year. My current plan is to work on a commercial 3D printer and replace its extrusion system with my design. The general frame of the printer is kept because that is not the focus of this research. Right now, I have finished my design of the extruder in 3D models and start building and testing prototypes. In future research, I would expect to have the extrusion system assembled on the 3D printer and investigating the optimal working condition for chocolate printing.
Static Straw Spinner
Gabriel Saintil (The Pingry School Basking Ridge, USA); Hunter Jushchuk (Rutgers Preparatory, USA)
2
Static electricity was first discovered by Ewald Georg von Kleist, a German inventor. Static electricity is created by causing friction between two items. It can create a negative charge or a positive charge. These charges can attract each other if they are opposites and will repel each other if they are the same charges. When these charges come in contact with things like metal, which has a positive charge, you can get shocked.
How It works
When rubbed with wool the two straws end up with the same charges. When two objects have the same charge such as two positive charges or two negative charges they repel each other. This causes the straw you are holding to push the straw on the cup.
How teachers use this in the class room
This experiment shows static electricity in its simplest form, and how two of the same charges push against each other.
How this could be used in the future
Right now static electricity is used for electrostatic generators. Because movement is in a lot of things we do, static electricity could be something we use to power a lot of our items in our daily lives.
How It works
When rubbed with wool the two straws end up with the same charges. When two objects have the same charge such as two positive charges or two negative charges they repel each other. This causes the straw you are holding to push the straw on the cup.
How teachers use this in the class room
This experiment shows static electricity in its simplest form, and how two of the same charges push against each other.
How this could be used in the future
Right now static electricity is used for electrostatic generators. Because movement is in a lot of things we do, static electricity could be something we use to power a lot of our items in our daily lives.
High School STEM Clubs In A Virtual World
Anastasia A Ibrahim (Edison High School & iSTEM Club, USA); Sunrit Panda (Edison High School & TEDxEdisonHighSchool, USA); Gunjan Adya (Edison High School & iSTEM Club, USA)
3
Transitioning To A Virtual School Year:
Edison High School's iSTEM Club faced numerous challenges in the summer leading up to the 2020-2021 school year. Club funding was cut due to school budget restructuring. All club recruitment events such as Freshman Orientation and the Club Fair had been canceled. Despite these challenges, club attendance increased during virtual meetings. This improvement can be attributed to changes in meeting style. Instead of appealing to students with opportunities and events, the officers used their large personalities to create a welcoming virtual community. Thus, the key to maintaining a virtual STEM club is energetic, personable meetings that keep students coming back for more.
Club Events:
iSTEM Club's officers looked to the virtual outreach events of universities as inspiration. Events were brainstormed with a focus on mental health, career development, community outreach. The iSTEM club continued to offer mentorship to students applying to summer programs in STEM research as this process only became more difficult virtually. Additionally, the iSTEM club taught the basics of HTML and web design in a three-part seminar series. These seminars doubled as training for teaching aides who will participate in future HTML workshops for elementary schoolers, engaging both elementary and high school students during remote learning. Finally, iSTEM club created a College, Career, and Mental Health seminar series addressing topics such as creating a resume, finding research opportunities, exploring career fields, self-care, time management, applying to college, etc.
These unique seminar topics allow club members to make use of free-time during online learning and further strengthens the welcoming community that attracts new members. For example, the HTML seminars may inspire a student to start a personal coding project. That student would then feel comfortable asking the officers for guidance. Furthermore, iSTEM Club officers decide which seminars to lead, developing valuable collaboration, public speaking and leadership skills.
Finally, the pandemic allows the time to plan for in-person events after widespread vaccination. ISTEM club plans to create an Apple Institutional Developer Account to teach Swift and publish apps to the App store. Most excitingly, the club received a $4,250 grant from the IEEE-in-epics program to alleviate a water crisis in Rural India.
A Model For The Future:
Evidently, iSTEM Club has seen much success while adjusting to the online environment. This begs the question: Can high school STEM clubs go virtual or hybrid permanently? The evidence says yes. Savvy management of a virtual club yields lower costs, greater attendance, and a more impactful experience. Virtual seminars have greater reach and can be recorded for future use. Virtual community outreach teaches club members how to work efficiently and collaboratively in a virtual environment, an important skill moving forward. Finally, in-person events can be coordinated once safe to teach hands-on skills. Combining virtual community-building meetings and seminars with in-person skill-building events, iSTEM Club is a model for the high school club of the future.
Edison High School's iSTEM Club faced numerous challenges in the summer leading up to the 2020-2021 school year. Club funding was cut due to school budget restructuring. All club recruitment events such as Freshman Orientation and the Club Fair had been canceled. Despite these challenges, club attendance increased during virtual meetings. This improvement can be attributed to changes in meeting style. Instead of appealing to students with opportunities and events, the officers used their large personalities to create a welcoming virtual community. Thus, the key to maintaining a virtual STEM club is energetic, personable meetings that keep students coming back for more.
Club Events:
iSTEM Club's officers looked to the virtual outreach events of universities as inspiration. Events were brainstormed with a focus on mental health, career development, community outreach. The iSTEM club continued to offer mentorship to students applying to summer programs in STEM research as this process only became more difficult virtually. Additionally, the iSTEM club taught the basics of HTML and web design in a three-part seminar series. These seminars doubled as training for teaching aides who will participate in future HTML workshops for elementary schoolers, engaging both elementary and high school students during remote learning. Finally, iSTEM club created a College, Career, and Mental Health seminar series addressing topics such as creating a resume, finding research opportunities, exploring career fields, self-care, time management, applying to college, etc.
These unique seminar topics allow club members to make use of free-time during online learning and further strengthens the welcoming community that attracts new members. For example, the HTML seminars may inspire a student to start a personal coding project. That student would then feel comfortable asking the officers for guidance. Furthermore, iSTEM Club officers decide which seminars to lead, developing valuable collaboration, public speaking and leadership skills.
Finally, the pandemic allows the time to plan for in-person events after widespread vaccination. ISTEM club plans to create an Apple Institutional Developer Account to teach Swift and publish apps to the App store. Most excitingly, the club received a $4,250 grant from the IEEE-in-epics program to alleviate a water crisis in Rural India.
A Model For The Future:
Evidently, iSTEM Club has seen much success while adjusting to the online environment. This begs the question: Can high school STEM clubs go virtual or hybrid permanently? The evidence says yes. Savvy management of a virtual club yields lower costs, greater attendance, and a more impactful experience. Virtual seminars have greater reach and can be recorded for future use. Virtual community outreach teaches club members how to work efficiently and collaboratively in a virtual environment, an important skill moving forward. Finally, in-person events can be coordinated once safe to teach hands-on skills. Combining virtual community-building meetings and seminars with in-person skill-building events, iSTEM Club is a model for the high school club of the future.
TEDxEdisonHighSchool: A Template For Virtual TEDx Conferences
Sunrit Panda, Neoma A Chowdhury and Aditi Deshmukh (Edison High School & TEDxEdisonHighSchool, USA)
3
Going Beyond The TEDx Guidelines:
TEDx talks are brief and powerful. Limited to eighteen minutes, these talks are a concise glimpse into the speaker's background and topic. Adding to the rigorous TEDx speaker guidelines (TED Conferences LLC), the TEDxEdisonHighSchool curation teams have devised three techniques for curating TEDx talks in a virtual world.
Number one: the throughline is a pithy, memorable statement that encapsulates the point of the talk. In particular, Amy Cuddy's and Melissa Marshall's TED talks inspired this idea (Marshall, 2012, Cuddy 2012). The impactful throughline stimulates attendees' interest, especially as 'Zoom fatigue' reduces attention span for virtual events.
Number two: a three-meeting curation timeline allows for the efficient curation of high-quality talks. This small time commitment appeals to busy professionals and academics who have limited time for speaking appointments. Employing this timeline, three independent curation teams have planned and executed an eighteen-speaker TEDxEdisonHighSchool conference in only two months, with a three hour per week time commitment.
Number three: collaborative technology such as Google Documents, Calendly, and Miro facilitates efficient, on-time meetings. Calendly allows multiple teams to centrally schedule speaker meetings. Finally, a series of templates streamlines the speaker invitation and talk outlining process.
Taking Advantage Of The Virtual Climate:
Hosting a virtual TEDx conference lowers costs and expands reach. Normally, TEDx conferences are immense ordeals involving caterers, venues, stage designers, sponsors, and more (TED Conferences LLC). Additionally, TEDx limits most organizers to one conference in a twelve-month period with a maximum of one hundred attendees. However, a virtual conference only requires an online meeting platform and allows for multiple conferences in a single twelve-month period without the one hundred attendee limit. For example, in addition to the one conference per year afforded by a TEDx license, TEDCountdown and TEDWomen allowed TEDx licensees to host their own offshoot conferences. Finally, there are no geographic limits to speakers.
Next, the Zoom video conferencing service allows for further enhancements of TEDx events. Zoom is unique in having one of the most seamless, high-quality screen sharing features. Hence, live speakers can be supplemented by showing pre-recorded talks on the TED website. Furthermore, small-group discussions, called TEDxCircles, can be incorporated through Zoom breakout rooms. These allow for intimate conversations that delve deeper into the speakers' background and topic. Finally, Zoom's attendee limits can be bypassed by streaming live to Facebook or Youtube, further increasing the event's reach.
Impact On Online Learning:
A virtual TEDx conference addresses the need for "diversity in [a student's] learning experience" (Gillett-Swan, 2017). TEDx talks break up the monotony of lectures with its unique, fast-paced structure. And, by involving features such as TEDxCircles small-group discussions, students can learn soft skills such as public speaking, and networking. For example, the TEDxEdisonHighSchool Countdown conference shone a new light on climate change. Speakers from the NJ Sierra Club and Columbia University discussed novel viewpoints such as climate change youth outreach. When combined with online classes and assignments, TEDx conferences can enrich the learning experience for an otherwise isolated student.
TEDx talks are brief and powerful. Limited to eighteen minutes, these talks are a concise glimpse into the speaker's background and topic. Adding to the rigorous TEDx speaker guidelines (TED Conferences LLC), the TEDxEdisonHighSchool curation teams have devised three techniques for curating TEDx talks in a virtual world.
Number one: the throughline is a pithy, memorable statement that encapsulates the point of the talk. In particular, Amy Cuddy's and Melissa Marshall's TED talks inspired this idea (Marshall, 2012, Cuddy 2012). The impactful throughline stimulates attendees' interest, especially as 'Zoom fatigue' reduces attention span for virtual events.
Number two: a three-meeting curation timeline allows for the efficient curation of high-quality talks. This small time commitment appeals to busy professionals and academics who have limited time for speaking appointments. Employing this timeline, three independent curation teams have planned and executed an eighteen-speaker TEDxEdisonHighSchool conference in only two months, with a three hour per week time commitment.
Number three: collaborative technology such as Google Documents, Calendly, and Miro facilitates efficient, on-time meetings. Calendly allows multiple teams to centrally schedule speaker meetings. Finally, a series of templates streamlines the speaker invitation and talk outlining process.
Taking Advantage Of The Virtual Climate:
Hosting a virtual TEDx conference lowers costs and expands reach. Normally, TEDx conferences are immense ordeals involving caterers, venues, stage designers, sponsors, and more (TED Conferences LLC). Additionally, TEDx limits most organizers to one conference in a twelve-month period with a maximum of one hundred attendees. However, a virtual conference only requires an online meeting platform and allows for multiple conferences in a single twelve-month period without the one hundred attendee limit. For example, in addition to the one conference per year afforded by a TEDx license, TEDCountdown and TEDWomen allowed TEDx licensees to host their own offshoot conferences. Finally, there are no geographic limits to speakers.
Next, the Zoom video conferencing service allows for further enhancements of TEDx events. Zoom is unique in having one of the most seamless, high-quality screen sharing features. Hence, live speakers can be supplemented by showing pre-recorded talks on the TED website. Furthermore, small-group discussions, called TEDxCircles, can be incorporated through Zoom breakout rooms. These allow for intimate conversations that delve deeper into the speakers' background and topic. Finally, Zoom's attendee limits can be bypassed by streaming live to Facebook or Youtube, further increasing the event's reach.
Impact On Online Learning:
A virtual TEDx conference addresses the need for "diversity in [a student's] learning experience" (Gillett-Swan, 2017). TEDx talks break up the monotony of lectures with its unique, fast-paced structure. And, by involving features such as TEDxCircles small-group discussions, students can learn soft skills such as public speaking, and networking. For example, the TEDxEdisonHighSchool Countdown conference shone a new light on climate change. Speakers from the NJ Sierra Club and Columbia University discussed novel viewpoints such as climate change youth outreach. When combined with online classes and assignments, TEDx conferences can enrich the learning experience for an otherwise isolated student.
Enhancing Chess Engine with a Personalized Quantitative Database
Jiasen Liu (Princeton International School of Math and Science, China)
1
Designing chess engines have become a popular topic of computer science studying since 1997, when Deep Blue, invented by the IBM company, defeat Gary Kasparov in a 6-game match. Nowadays, chess engine designers improve their engines with more efficient neural networks, enhanced self-learning methods, complete databases of past games, and so on. However, what these designers ignore is the human's perspective of playing chess. Different human players have different styles and preferences, and even when their Elo ratings are near, they may choose various options in the same situation. This human's way of thinking is what modern chess engines do not consider, and I assume that their performance when playing against human players could improve by considering these different styles. What this research is attempting is to set up a personalized quantitative system based on previous games. The author's and some other chess players' understanding of chess would be added to create more enhanced standards for this quantitative system. After that, the system will be implemented to Stockfish, the best open-source chess engine in the world, by modifying its source codes. If the modified engine knows the opponents they are facing, it adds those quantitative statistics into analysis with a specific weight. Instead of directly calculates the best moves for a position, the engine chooses the moves that bring the hugest challenge for the opponent, and the moves chosen vary when the opponents change. Then, the performance of Stockfish will be compared to its original version, and verify whether the engine gets better. If the research is done successfully, both the designs of the chess engine and the methods for training human players would get improved.
Session Chair
To Be Determined
Session Poster-4
Poster Session 4
Conference
3:00 PM
—
4:45 PM EST
Local
Mar 13 Sat, 12:00 PM
—
1:45 PM PST
Using hashing to improve efficiency in cross-image duplicate detection in research publications
Tongyu Lu (Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, China)
2
BACKGROUND
Cases of research misconduct had increasingly exhibited themselves through the
duplicate figures that they contain; Bik et al. [1] examined over 20
thousand biomedical published papers and found that 3.8% had inappropriate
duplicate figures, with this percentage on the rise in recent years.
Currently, the identification of figure duplicates is mainly carried out by
human reviewers; the process is slow and requires specialized training. There
have been attempts to develop large-scale screening tools for image
duplicates, but they are either unpublished [2] or do not perform very well.
METHODS
There exists prior research in the field of copy-move forgery detection. These
deal with duplicate regions on a single image, but the methods could be
modified and applied to cross-image matching, as we intend to. However,
cross-image matching implies a much larger feature set to match between, and
feature matching is currently the slowest step in the process [3].
Currently, there are two directions to address this problem. One is to use
keypoint-based features, such as SIFT, to decrease the size of the feature
set. The other is to apply hashing to the features and use hash lookup to
quickly eliminate those features that definitely don't match; Bayram et al.
[4] demonstrates that using bloom filters in place of traditional methods
increased the matching speed at some loss of result accuracy.
We plan to devise a method that applies hashing to matching SIFT features in
order to reliably perform faster than prior methods on cross-image matching in
large biomedical image sets. We expect the resulting method to perform faster
than current methods with little to no loss of accuracy.
REFERENCES
1. Bik, E. M., Casadevall, A., Fang, F. C., The Prevalence of Inappropriate
Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications. _mBio_ 7(3),
e00809-16 (2016). doi:10.1128/mBio.00809-16
2. Acuna, D. E., Brookes, P. S., Kording, K. P., Bioscience-scale automated
detection of figure element reuse. preprint on _bioRxiv_ (2017).
doi:10.1101/269415
3. Christlein, V., Riess, C., Jordan, J., Riess, C., Angelopoulou, E., An
Evaluation of Popular Copy-Move Forgery Detection Approaches. _IEEE Trans.
Inf. Forensics Secur._ 7(6), 1841-1854 (2012).
doi:10.1109/tifs.2012.2218597
4. Bayram, S., Taha Sencar, H., Memon, N., An efficient and robust method for
detecting copy-move forgery. _2009 IEEE International Conference on
Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing_. doi:10.1109/icassp.2009.4959768
Cases of research misconduct had increasingly exhibited themselves through the
duplicate figures that they contain; Bik et al. [1] examined over 20
thousand biomedical published papers and found that 3.8% had inappropriate
duplicate figures, with this percentage on the rise in recent years.
Currently, the identification of figure duplicates is mainly carried out by
human reviewers; the process is slow and requires specialized training. There
have been attempts to develop large-scale screening tools for image
duplicates, but they are either unpublished [2] or do not perform very well.
METHODS
There exists prior research in the field of copy-move forgery detection. These
deal with duplicate regions on a single image, but the methods could be
modified and applied to cross-image matching, as we intend to. However,
cross-image matching implies a much larger feature set to match between, and
feature matching is currently the slowest step in the process [3].
Currently, there are two directions to address this problem. One is to use
keypoint-based features, such as SIFT, to decrease the size of the feature
set. The other is to apply hashing to the features and use hash lookup to
quickly eliminate those features that definitely don't match; Bayram et al.
[4] demonstrates that using bloom filters in place of traditional methods
increased the matching speed at some loss of result accuracy.
We plan to devise a method that applies hashing to matching SIFT features in
order to reliably perform faster than prior methods on cross-image matching in
large biomedical image sets. We expect the resulting method to perform faster
than current methods with little to no loss of accuracy.
REFERENCES
1. Bik, E. M., Casadevall, A., Fang, F. C., The Prevalence of Inappropriate
Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications. _mBio_ 7(3),
e00809-16 (2016). doi:10.1128/mBio.00809-16
2. Acuna, D. E., Brookes, P. S., Kording, K. P., Bioscience-scale automated
detection of figure element reuse. preprint on _bioRxiv_ (2017).
doi:10.1101/269415
3. Christlein, V., Riess, C., Jordan, J., Riess, C., Angelopoulou, E., An
Evaluation of Popular Copy-Move Forgery Detection Approaches. _IEEE Trans.
Inf. Forensics Secur._ 7(6), 1841-1854 (2012).
doi:10.1109/tifs.2012.2218597
4. Bayram, S., Taha Sencar, H., Memon, N., An efficient and robust method for
detecting copy-move forgery. _2009 IEEE International Conference on
Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing_. doi:10.1109/icassp.2009.4959768
Golden Ratio Lettuce
Bela Sameep Sanghavi (1312 Ashton Falls Drive & O'Fallon Township High School, USA)
3
The golden ratio is a mathematical concept seen in all aspects nature. From petals of a flower to a shell of a snail to even human finger anatomy, the gold ratio is used. The golden ratio is ɸ = (1+√5)/2 which is approximately 1.61803398875. This equation derives from the Fibonacci sequence which adds the last two numbers to form the third, such as 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, and so on. When the two addends are put into a fraction, with the larger number as the numerator, as the sequence goes higher, it becomes closer to the golden ratio.
Over a 2-week time span, this experiment will show how using the golden ratio of peat moss to soil will affect lettuce growth. In the experiment, 1 part peat moss and 1.6 parts soil will be mixed in a pot, producing the "golden ratio soil". Another pot will contain 1 part peat moss and 1 part soil. The plants will be daily monitored for any growth.
Over a 2-week time span, this experiment will show how using the golden ratio of peat moss to soil will affect lettuce growth. In the experiment, 1 part peat moss and 1.6 parts soil will be mixed in a pot, producing the "golden ratio soil". Another pot will contain 1 part peat moss and 1 part soil. The plants will be daily monitored for any growth.
Interactive At-Home Learning
Anishi R Desai (William Fremd Highschool & None, USA)
1
Through the times we are all apart of together, everyone has had to make changes in their daily cycle. With the situation that comes with several outcomes, education takes charge as the most prevalent result. The ways students learn is very different than what it was a few months ago and adapting to certain measures some may not feel comfortable endorsing into. The main factor is the roles that teachers play; they have to find ways to keep their education both interesting and impactful. In my math class, the days seem to blend as we only go through the same cycle every day. Since some kids, including myself, learn better when the topic is interactive and also competitive, I want to propose the idea of having a game near the time of a quiz or a test to make the review process more fun and interactive. It will increase the amount of participation in the class and the students will feel more comfortable asking questions.
Fun of Physics
Kayla Desai (Fremd, USA)
3
Throughout the integration of the new education system, teachers and students have been doing their best to teach the content with the same level of "fun" they would have in an actual, in person class. A class that I have seen this happen in was my Physics class. Everyone has seen the wonders of physics class whether it be in person or online. There are so many things that the class physically shows to help better the students and their understanding of the topic. Near the end of December of last year, my teacher had us make a Rube Goldberg project that had to complete a certain task without any human intervention. My poster will show different examples of Rube Goldberg and how my project was reflective of that. There will also be an explanation of the project, going step by step of what happened specifically to better show the function of the project, to show how there was no intervention, how it worked, and how it better showed our understanding of the topic that we were learning. We were also instructed to integrate the project with the things we learned and I feel that without the the introduction of the project, myself and the group that I had worked with wouldn't understand the concept of the topic that we were learning and finishing
Consumer Barriers For The Adoption Of Climate Friendly Packaging In Mercer County
Inara D Jain (Princeton High School, USA)
2
In early November of 2020, New Jersey passed legislation banning single-use paper and plastic bags to take effect in May of 2022. As of February 2021, restaurants and grocery stores seem to show slow initiative to adopt more climate-conscious packaging options. This could be due to hardships on businesses due to the pandemic or the perception of unrecoverable packaging costs. This proposal entails collecting Mercer County consumer preferences on the adoption of climate-friendly options and assessing how much value consumers put on these options. This data can be shared with businesses in Mercer County to catalyze these businesses to adopt climate-conscious packaging options. Data will be collected through primary research done via electronic anonymous survey tools promoted via social media channels. Secondary data sources relating to Mercer County will also be evaluated.
Application for Individualized Learning Using Artifical Intelligence
Anant Gupta (Great Neck South Middle School, USA)
6
This pandemic has forced us to abandon the normality of our lives. My mother is continuously buying stuff from Amazon.com and my father is always checking his stock portfolio while I have got stuck in tiring zoom sessions. With this remote methodology, learning has lost its luster. The person-to-person relationship with teachers is not the same, and what is left is a shell of what I was used to. Other sources including Brilliant, CK-12, and Khan Academy also lack individualized learning like the one I found in a brick-and-mortar school. So I thought about building a tool to impart knowledge based on the skill level of each student. I want to make an application (app) powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that will closely monitor the student's past performance and response time and will provide him/her with personalized content. I learn best in a question and answer (Q&A) format, so I plan to create an app to deliver rich scientific content to students in a Q&A format. It will also have an administrative interface where teachers worldwide can add questions and videos explaining the answers. I envision it to be a great teaching tool for the less advanced countries and students with limited resources, who cannot afford private tutors. As Google's CEO Sundar Pichai says, "AI is one of the most important things humanity is working on. The newborn will have to learn continuously over their lives. So, we have to transform how we do education."
- Anant Gupta
- Anant Gupta
Smart Education Supply Preparedness
Adrik Ray (Huber Street Elementary School, USA)
5
Education is evolving with remote online education coming to the forefront during the Covid-19 pandemic. This has also driven students to be more self-driven and prepared without the classroom help, they would have received from teachers. In this paper, we discuss how modern technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, smart intelligent speakers enabled with fast wireless connections like 5G, can enable students to be better prepared for their classes without unnecessarily worrying about their preparedness every day.
We have lots of things to remember for school in addition to our studies. Every day, we have to remember to check our school supplies. If we forget, we may have to scramble for our school supplies or to get them ready for use during classes. The supplies may also be out of place for various other reasons. Sometimes parents, siblings or friends borrow our supplies and forget to return. Sometimes we go on a vacation and the night before school, we realize our supplies are not in place. We may have to put reminders for this repetitive and mundane task to check our supplies every day.
The above problem made me think that there got to be some way in today's day and age to take care of this repetitive but important task in a smarter way. I have contemplated a design consisting of a smart organized supply box which will store different types of supplies with slots designated for same. The box will provide personalization options with inputs such as age and other optional configurations about the user of the box, making it usable for students of different ages. The intelligent box will use IoT visual sensors placed inside with adequate lighting, to capture images of supplies. The sensors interface with a circuit, that takes inputs from the sensors and detects scenarios like inadequate shape of items (blunt pencil, broken pencil etc.), lack of items (missing erasers, specific colors etc.), misplaced items etc. Once detected, the circuit passes appropriate programmed commands to connected voice control devices like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Siri etc. These devices would take the commands and send voice alerts and/or send alerts on the smart phones for the students or parents to replenish and/or ready specific supply items, if needed. Additionally, the box can generate insights for parents to monitor and analyze consumption habits of the students over time; and the degree to which they are organized in their daily lives. This will enable parents to work with the students to achieve the habits, lifestyle and goals they desire. Finally, automating these regular tasks will improve productivity, save time and make our school life much easier and efficient - after all, time is something the smart people say, cannot be bought with money.
Some of the changes in our lives necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic will have lasting impacts. Living our daily lives smartly and efficiently for a better school-life balance certainly will be one of them, and my paper contributes to this goal.
We have lots of things to remember for school in addition to our studies. Every day, we have to remember to check our school supplies. If we forget, we may have to scramble for our school supplies or to get them ready for use during classes. The supplies may also be out of place for various other reasons. Sometimes parents, siblings or friends borrow our supplies and forget to return. Sometimes we go on a vacation and the night before school, we realize our supplies are not in place. We may have to put reminders for this repetitive and mundane task to check our supplies every day.
The above problem made me think that there got to be some way in today's day and age to take care of this repetitive but important task in a smarter way. I have contemplated a design consisting of a smart organized supply box which will store different types of supplies with slots designated for same. The box will provide personalization options with inputs such as age and other optional configurations about the user of the box, making it usable for students of different ages. The intelligent box will use IoT visual sensors placed inside with adequate lighting, to capture images of supplies. The sensors interface with a circuit, that takes inputs from the sensors and detects scenarios like inadequate shape of items (blunt pencil, broken pencil etc.), lack of items (missing erasers, specific colors etc.), misplaced items etc. Once detected, the circuit passes appropriate programmed commands to connected voice control devices like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Siri etc. These devices would take the commands and send voice alerts and/or send alerts on the smart phones for the students or parents to replenish and/or ready specific supply items, if needed. Additionally, the box can generate insights for parents to monitor and analyze consumption habits of the students over time; and the degree to which they are organized in their daily lives. This will enable parents to work with the students to achieve the habits, lifestyle and goals they desire. Finally, automating these regular tasks will improve productivity, save time and make our school life much easier and efficient - after all, time is something the smart people say, cannot be bought with money.
Some of the changes in our lives necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic will have lasting impacts. Living our daily lives smartly and efficiently for a better school-life balance certainly will be one of them, and my paper contributes to this goal.
Lego Robot for Guiding the Blind
Rishi Balaji (Gates Elementary School, USA)
4
One kind of health problem that exists today is blindness. There are ways to communicate with blind people such as braille. There are also ways to help them in their predicament such as using guide dogs or having another person help them with certain things. The robot I made was based on guide dogs, a type of dog which guides a blind person and helps them go to different places. It uses an infrared sensor to detect walls and other obstacles, then guides the blind person around, giving them directions by saying certain things like saying "Turn left" to inform the blind person that they should turn left, saying "Turn right" so the blind person knows to turn right, and saying "Object detected" to warn them that the robot has detected an obstacle. I used LEGO Mindstorms EV3 to build my robot. Compared to a normal guide dog, there are a few pros and cons to this robot:
Pros:
- It does not need to be fed food constantly
- There is no need to take it to the vet
Cons:
- Its sources of power such as batteries might need to be changed constantly depending on how much it gets used every day
Pros:
- It does not need to be fed food constantly
- There is no need to take it to the vet
Cons:
- Its sources of power such as batteries might need to be changed constantly depending on how much it gets used every day
Fibonacci Lemonade
Arden Upadya (Morristown Beard School, USA)
2
In my project, I will show the densities of lemon juice and simple syrup by making lemonade using the idea of the Fibonacci Sequence. I will use the concept of the Fibonacci Sequence to create different layers with simple syrup and lemon juice as the ingredients. The materials I will use for this experiment are a teaspoon, a tablespoon, a drinking glass, ice, food coloring, simple syrup, lemon juice, a spoon, a bowl, and a towel for the mess. The Fibonacci Sequence was founded by Leonardo Pisano who was an Italian mathematician. The sequence is created by adding the two numbers before it to get a new number and it goes on to infinity. A few numbers in the sequence are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5…. For example, I will use one teaspoon of lemon juice in the first layer, one teaspoon of simple syrup in the second layer, one teaspoon of each in the third layer, and so on going by the Fibonacci Sequence. The amount of teaspoons for all of the layers will go like this: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and this will create the different layers of liquid. I will put the amount of simple syrup in a bowl and then put the amount of lemon juice in the bowl. Next, I will put two tablespoons of water, one drop of a certain food coloring, and then mix the ingredients. Then, I will use a spoon to help me take the mixture from the bowl, and put it into the drinking cup. I am planning on doing a certain color, and then on top of it, there will be a clear layer since I don't want the liquids to merge at all. In the end, from bottom to top, it should look like: blue, clear layer, green, clear layer, yellow, clear layer, and finally red. There will be ice in the cup filled all the way to the top as well. Students in a class setting can use this experiment and have fun learning about density and the Fibonacci Sequence. This is a fun way to learn since you get to drink the results! Also, it is a safe, visual hands-on activity, and some students learn better from visual lessons. Compared to the normal lesson, I think that students will be engaged and learn more. Students can make their own lemonade and learn why the colors are separated and not mixing together using science. All in all, I think that this experiment is an interesting, cost friendly, STEM project that will be highly effective and exciting for students in a classroom.
Design and Testing of Solar Power Heating
Victor I Robila (Hunter College High School, USA)
3
The use of non-renewable energy sources continues to impact the society's ability to minimize its environmental footprint and impedes the efforts to slow down climate change with stark implications to the global economy, humanity's own well-being and even existence. The importance of this topic is illustrated by the constant presence in the news as well as support for broad efforts to identify and perfect alternative sources of energy. The use of renewable energy sources, such as water, wind, or solar continues to grow, however challenges in efficient energy production and storage remain. The sun's emanated energy constitutes one of the most readily and widely available renewable resources. Yet, converting it to usable energy still requires expensive equipment such as solar panels. This poster investigates the design of solar heating of liquids as a means for improving the energy transfer. While solar water heaters have been used for decades, improvements in design have not kept up. Various aspects, such as the heater design and coating as well as the addition of salt to the water were considered as part of the experiments for this project. In my work, I posed the hypothesis that heating salty water is more efficient than regular water because the salt would make it harder for the heat to escape. The solar heater followed a classic box design with the liquid circulating through a transparent tube inside the box and connected with a container in a closed loop system. As it heated, the liquid would travel upwards through the tube towards the container. When the water travelled into the box, it would heat up and rise outside of the box. Experiments that controlled both the light intensity and other environmental parameters (such as outside temperature) showed that the use of salt in water results in speeding up the heating process. The experiment showed, not only that the heater was successful, but also that adding a saline quality to the water would in fact make the water heat up faster and be more practical. This could be immensely practical in use at a larger size and while the increase may seem small, this could be a big part in helping eliminate the use of fossil fuels in at least one of the many sectors involving them.
A Review of the Relationship Between Diabetes and Diabetic Amputations in the United States: An Expensive, Chronic but Preventable Condition
Gabrielle Rose Kiewe (Schechter School of Long Island, USA); Hugh Herr (MIT-Harvard, USA); Francesca B Riccio-Ackerman, Aaron Jaeger and Daniel Levine (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
3
The number of people living with diabetes is expected to increase to 250 million worldwide by 2025. Diabetes is a chronic condition that requires constant care. Not everyone has the financial means to upkeep their diabetic care. When diabetes becomes unmanageable, it often causes unknown infections, or ulcers, which can lead to the need for amputation. This increase in type 2 diabetes largely contributes to the near doubling of the current amputated population in the U.S. As of 2004, 68 percent of major amputations were due to diabetes. This is especially an issue because people with diabetic amputations not only have to deal with an amputation, but also with a chronic illness that they have difficulties managing.
Most studies look into the cost of surgery and prosthetics, which is easily tens of thousands of dollars. However, previously completed studies have not looked into the indirect costs and productivity losses, which excludes the costs on the family and society as a whole. Diabetes contributes to $237 billion in annual costs, which makes it the most expensive chronic disease in the U.S. So much so, that one in every four dollars spent on healthcare goes toward diabetes. Without understanding the complete cost of illness, that money can not be spent effectively to help those with diabetic amputations.
Since the cost and time commitment of maintenance for diabetes is very expensive, there's a natural relationship between low socioeconomic areas and high rates of untreated or undertreated diabetes. Consequently, these areas also face high rates of diabetic amputations; studies show that certain low-income neighborhoods have 10 times higher amputation rates compared to their high-income counterparts, as a result of lower resources, medical infrastructure, financial support, which are important factors in diabetes management and living with an amputation. Racial disparities are another factor of amputation. Black Americans are under-represented in treatments that would prevent or delay preventable limb loss and over-represented in amputation surgeries. Both economic and racial disparities together create centers of extremely high amputation rates, which is shown by geographic clustering of diabetes and amputation rates.
Diabetic amputation is considered one of the most preventable chronic conditions. Studies have shown that 75 percent of diabetic amputations could have been prevented through education, earlier identification, and treatment of ulcers. Experts suggest more than 80,000 toe, foot, and lower-limb amputations could have been prevented with better diabetic control.
As the prevalence of diabetes grows, it is important to document and better understand rates of diabetic amputations, how they come about, and best practices for preventing them. Most studies providing data regarding diabetic amputations are outdated and need to be updated regularly to inform policy-makers how to allocate resources for prevention. Thus, areas of work that specifically need to be highlighted are amputation prevention and health equity.
Most studies look into the cost of surgery and prosthetics, which is easily tens of thousands of dollars. However, previously completed studies have not looked into the indirect costs and productivity losses, which excludes the costs on the family and society as a whole. Diabetes contributes to $237 billion in annual costs, which makes it the most expensive chronic disease in the U.S. So much so, that one in every four dollars spent on healthcare goes toward diabetes. Without understanding the complete cost of illness, that money can not be spent effectively to help those with diabetic amputations.
Since the cost and time commitment of maintenance for diabetes is very expensive, there's a natural relationship between low socioeconomic areas and high rates of untreated or undertreated diabetes. Consequently, these areas also face high rates of diabetic amputations; studies show that certain low-income neighborhoods have 10 times higher amputation rates compared to their high-income counterparts, as a result of lower resources, medical infrastructure, financial support, which are important factors in diabetes management and living with an amputation. Racial disparities are another factor of amputation. Black Americans are under-represented in treatments that would prevent or delay preventable limb loss and over-represented in amputation surgeries. Both economic and racial disparities together create centers of extremely high amputation rates, which is shown by geographic clustering of diabetes and amputation rates.
Diabetic amputation is considered one of the most preventable chronic conditions. Studies have shown that 75 percent of diabetic amputations could have been prevented through education, earlier identification, and treatment of ulcers. Experts suggest more than 80,000 toe, foot, and lower-limb amputations could have been prevented with better diabetic control.
As the prevalence of diabetes grows, it is important to document and better understand rates of diabetic amputations, how they come about, and best practices for preventing them. Most studies providing data regarding diabetic amputations are outdated and need to be updated regularly to inform policy-makers how to allocate resources for prevention. Thus, areas of work that specifically need to be highlighted are amputation prevention and health equity.
Session Chair
To Be Determined
Session Poster-5
Poster Session 5
Conference
3:00 PM
—
4:45 PM EST
Local
Mar 13 Sat, 12:00 PM
—
1:45 PM PST
Photophone Re-invented
Roshan S Natarajan (Whittle School and Studios, USA)
2
The photophone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1880, is a telecommunication device that allows transmission through a beam of light. A photophone uses light waves to transmit sound. There are two parts of a photophone, the receiver and the transmitter. The transmitter receives the sunlight. The receiver then receives the reflected sunlight and turns the light wave into an audio wave via an amplifier. Bell describes the photophone:
"We have found that the simplest form of apparatus for producing the effect consists of a plane mirror of flexible material against the back of which the speaker's voice is directed. Under the action of the voice the mirror becomes alternately convex and concave and thus alternately scatters and condenses the light."
In this quote Bell is describing the transmitter which is a mirror that is reflecting the sunlight to the receiver which is narrowed through a dark tube and onto a solar panel. This solar panel is then connected to an amplifier which then converts the light waves to the sound waves ultimately producing the sound that is played behind the mirror.
Materials:
Audio Amplifier
Solar Module
0.1µF Capacitor
Speaker
22 AWG Wire
9V Battery
Electrical Tape
Aluminum Foil
Rubber Band
Plastic Water Bottle
Cardboard
Method:
Put together (or buy) an audio amplifier that will be used to convert the light beams into sound waves.
Attach the speaker to the audio amplifier.
Place the capacitor on the positive terminal of the amplifier which will connect to the positive side of the solar module.
Create a tube out of cardboard or some other material. Then tape on the solar modules to the end of the tube(make sure that there is no sunlight present in the tube).
Create a transmitter by using a reflective object that will direct the sunlight towards the cardboard tube(receiver).
Then attach a speaker or another mode of audio to the back of the reflective object (these sound waves will then be carried on a light beam and transmitted to the receiver).
Adjust the transmitter until the sunlight is reflected down the tube and is transmitted to the receiver.
Future Applications:
The photophone uses light waves to transmit sound over a certain area and time. This can be applied on a large scale. A future application can be an intergalactic photophone in which a person can transmit light waves across our solar system and be able to communicate with people back on earth. This can be tested on the ISS as well as on the moon and if there is ever a colony on mars this would be a fast way of communication. It would be an intergalactic photophone.
"We have found that the simplest form of apparatus for producing the effect consists of a plane mirror of flexible material against the back of which the speaker's voice is directed. Under the action of the voice the mirror becomes alternately convex and concave and thus alternately scatters and condenses the light."
In this quote Bell is describing the transmitter which is a mirror that is reflecting the sunlight to the receiver which is narrowed through a dark tube and onto a solar panel. This solar panel is then connected to an amplifier which then converts the light waves to the sound waves ultimately producing the sound that is played behind the mirror.
Materials:
Audio Amplifier
Solar Module
0.1µF Capacitor
Speaker
22 AWG Wire
9V Battery
Electrical Tape
Aluminum Foil
Rubber Band
Plastic Water Bottle
Cardboard
Method:
Put together (or buy) an audio amplifier that will be used to convert the light beams into sound waves.
Attach the speaker to the audio amplifier.
Place the capacitor on the positive terminal of the amplifier which will connect to the positive side of the solar module.
Create a tube out of cardboard or some other material. Then tape on the solar modules to the end of the tube(make sure that there is no sunlight present in the tube).
Create a transmitter by using a reflective object that will direct the sunlight towards the cardboard tube(receiver).
Then attach a speaker or another mode of audio to the back of the reflective object (these sound waves will then be carried on a light beam and transmitted to the receiver).
Adjust the transmitter until the sunlight is reflected down the tube and is transmitted to the receiver.
Future Applications:
The photophone uses light waves to transmit sound over a certain area and time. This can be applied on a large scale. A future application can be an intergalactic photophone in which a person can transmit light waves across our solar system and be able to communicate with people back on earth. This can be tested on the ISS as well as on the moon and if there is ever a colony on mars this would be a fast way of communication. It would be an intergalactic photophone.
The Science Behind Flappy Bird
Steven S Santos (Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, USA)
5
Mobile games have become immensely popular over the past decade, due to the widespread adoption of smartphones. Over the years, many games have come into the spotlight due to their addicting and fun nature. Flappy Bird was one of the most popular games in the world around its release, played by millions of users all around the world. The game was released in 2013, but was removed by the creator due to guilt over the widespread addiction. Due to its popularity there have been hundreds of copies released on the internet that are still popular due to the popularity of the original game.
Flappy Bird is a mobile game originally developed by Dong Nguyen, a Vietnamese videogame programmer. Flappy Bird is a side scrolling game, like the popular game Super Mario Brothers, where the player controls a bird in a 2D environment. Unlike Mario, the player only has control over the bird's vertical movement. The main goal is for the bird to travel as far as it can without hitting any green pipes. While the goal and controls are simple the game becomes increasingly difficult and frantic as the bird moves faster the farther it travels.
Python is a computer programming language used for many software applications and can be used to create video games on the internet when paired with tools such as Python Arcade. Flappy Bird is one of the games that can be created using Python, and when coded correctly the game can be an almost perfect version of Flappy Bird. During the coding process we created a game design plan with two to three week intervals for our Flappy Bird project. The beginning stages involved establishing a solid plan, sectioning off code, and setting up a skeleton by putting down basic coding. The later stages involved adding on to the skeleton by putting more advanced code down, adding secondary items such as sprites, coloring, and lighting, and adding the finishing touches to the game.
We were able to fully recreate Flappy Bird in python as well as add a few of our own ideas to the game by following our game design plan. While we were able to find the original game's assets, we had to identify most of the original logic by visually watching the game being played, which was more difficult than expected. For our original ideas, we added a second chance feature that allows players to continue after dying if they solve a special challenge. A video will be made available of our recreation of Flappy Bird during the poster presentation and the code will be available on GitHub.
Flappy Bird is a mobile game originally developed by Dong Nguyen, a Vietnamese videogame programmer. Flappy Bird is a side scrolling game, like the popular game Super Mario Brothers, where the player controls a bird in a 2D environment. Unlike Mario, the player only has control over the bird's vertical movement. The main goal is for the bird to travel as far as it can without hitting any green pipes. While the goal and controls are simple the game becomes increasingly difficult and frantic as the bird moves faster the farther it travels.
Python is a computer programming language used for many software applications and can be used to create video games on the internet when paired with tools such as Python Arcade. Flappy Bird is one of the games that can be created using Python, and when coded correctly the game can be an almost perfect version of Flappy Bird. During the coding process we created a game design plan with two to three week intervals for our Flappy Bird project. The beginning stages involved establishing a solid plan, sectioning off code, and setting up a skeleton by putting down basic coding. The later stages involved adding on to the skeleton by putting more advanced code down, adding secondary items such as sprites, coloring, and lighting, and adding the finishing touches to the game.
We were able to fully recreate Flappy Bird in python as well as add a few of our own ideas to the game by following our game design plan. While we were able to find the original game's assets, we had to identify most of the original logic by visually watching the game being played, which was more difficult than expected. For our original ideas, we added a second chance feature that allows players to continue after dying if they solve a special challenge. A video will be made available of our recreation of Flappy Bird during the poster presentation and the code will be available on GitHub.
Exploring ethics in IoT-based smart cities
Michelle S Feng (The Bryn Mawr School & Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, USA); Jeffrey Chavis (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, USA)
6
As a result of the ever-growing demand for progress in technology, the concept of the smart city has erupted as a method of integrating electronics into governance. With the potential of futuristic systems and advancements that the smart city presents, it is important to maintain awareness of how smart technology may differ in its effects on worldwide communities. In improving their respective cities, big data and human-focused technologies in governance must address all ethical concerns. The consideration of the socioeconomic, racial, and other factors is necessary for all stages of the smart city process-data collection, interpretation, analysis, and the eventual implementation of data-based decisions. However, the idea of "right" and "wrong" shifts depending on historical context. This poster will define some measures of ethics in the artificial intelligence of smart cities and compare how specific cities meet the overall guidelines. Each city's Internet of Things usage in addressing environmental concerns, city infrastructure, and citizen satisfaction will be weighed against factors of community involvement, risk management, and transparency. The latter list of items helps adapt a city's systems to the needs and beliefs of their people (i.e., cultural context).
The Math Behind Piano Chords
Zuko A Ranganathan (Hart Magnet School, Stamford CT, USA)
4
In this poster, I shall describe the mathematics behind piano chords. Both major and minor chords are formed by three keys or notes, and both follow the rule of 7. In a major chord, we follow a 4 + 3 rule, where we pick the root note, and then 4 keys higher and then 3 keys further up. In a minor chord, we follow a 3 + 4 rule, where we pick the root note, and then 3 keys higher and then 4 keys further up. Just a small change in the middle key results in a big change in the mood of the chord (happy vs scary or sad). There are several variations of these formulas when we have chords with inversions. I shall explore the math behind this mood change and explain other mathematical formulae behind piano chords.
IoT & Smart Cities: "Smartainability"
Malcolm K Doster, Jr. (Charles Herbert Flowers High School, USA); Jeffrey Chavis (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, USA)
5
A smart city is an urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect data. Insights gained from that data are used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in return, that data is used to improve the operations across the city. A concept known as Smartainability is a method for assessing the sustainability of a smart city and IoT applications. Without a sound way to assess smart cities functionality, establishing them would be more challenging. The Smart City paradigm aims to improve citizens quality of life in a scenario where the percentage of people living in urban areas is getting higher and higher. The Smartainability approach allows researchers to estimate, with qualitative and quantitative indicators, how smart cities are more sustainable (and smart) in environmental, economical, energetic and social fields, thanks to innovative technologies.As for results, multiple dimensions, KPI (key performance indicators), and quantifications were recorded and analyzed from the case study in charts. This Smartainability development is focused on two aspects; The first aspect is the methodology consolidation and the definition of guidelines to replicate the assessment, the second one is the extension of Smartainability analysis from the Expo site to real city cases. Using this collected data to implement on real city cases could be the next step to establishing functional, interconnected smart cities.
The Fibonacci Sequence and The Golden Ratio in Math and Music
Nicole E Vassilev (Princeton High School, USA)
2
The exact origin of the Fibonacci sequence is unknown. However, it is widely recognized to have first been used by Leonardo of Pisa, an Italian mathematician, to solve a breeding issue with rabbits. It has since evolved into a complex system that has been used and taught for many centuries. Whether we realize it or not, Fibonacci numbers and related ideas can be found in almost everything in our lives.
A Fibonacci sequence consists of a list of numbers beginning with 0 and 1, in which each number is the sum of the two previous numbers in the sequence. For example, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 are the first numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, because 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, and 2+3=5. This pattern applies to any number in a Fibonacci sequence. The ratio of two fibonacci numbers that are one next to each other will always be extremely close to 1.618, the "golden ratio." 1.618 is also known as "phi'' which originates from the 21st letter in the Greek alphabet Φ. My research will look into the application of the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio in music specifically. On a foundational level, the Fibonacci sequence can be observed within a scale. The 5th note in a scale is the most important, and it happens to be the 8th note in an octave, which consists of 13 notes. Upon the division of 8 by 13, the rounded result is 0.615, a number practically identical to the golden ratio. It's important to note that 5, 8, and 13 are all also numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. Beyond this foundational level, the Fibonacci sequence and golden ratio play a more widespread role in the composition of large musical works, such as in the first movement of a piece by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. His piece, Music For Strings, Percussions and Celesta, is divided into two parts. Part one has 55 measures, and part two has 34 measures. When those numbers are divided, you get 1.6176, which when rounded, is 1.618 (the golden ratio). The Fibonacci sequence also makes appearances in rhythm, such as in the complex Konnakol rhythm by B.C Manjunath, which uses the first eight numbers of the Fibonacci sequence as its basis. My research will explore these occurrences of the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio in musical construction in order to more clearly demonstrate the parallels between music and math.
A Fibonacci sequence consists of a list of numbers beginning with 0 and 1, in which each number is the sum of the two previous numbers in the sequence. For example, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 are the first numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, because 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, and 2+3=5. This pattern applies to any number in a Fibonacci sequence. The ratio of two fibonacci numbers that are one next to each other will always be extremely close to 1.618, the "golden ratio." 1.618 is also known as "phi'' which originates from the 21st letter in the Greek alphabet Φ. My research will look into the application of the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio in music specifically. On a foundational level, the Fibonacci sequence can be observed within a scale. The 5th note in a scale is the most important, and it happens to be the 8th note in an octave, which consists of 13 notes. Upon the division of 8 by 13, the rounded result is 0.615, a number practically identical to the golden ratio. It's important to note that 5, 8, and 13 are all also numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. Beyond this foundational level, the Fibonacci sequence and golden ratio play a more widespread role in the composition of large musical works, such as in the first movement of a piece by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. His piece, Music For Strings, Percussions and Celesta, is divided into two parts. Part one has 55 measures, and part two has 34 measures. When those numbers are divided, you get 1.6176, which when rounded, is 1.618 (the golden ratio). The Fibonacci sequence also makes appearances in rhythm, such as in the complex Konnakol rhythm by B.C Manjunath, which uses the first eight numbers of the Fibonacci sequence as its basis. My research will explore these occurrences of the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio in musical construction in order to more clearly demonstrate the parallels between music and math.
Sensitivity of Voter Turnouts in Presidential Elections - A Retrospective Analysis
Kavin S Sankar (Enloe High School, USA)
4
Voter turnout is a major swaying factor in presidential elections. One of the main missions of presidential campaigns is to rile up their political base and independents to come to the voting booths and vote for them. An important comparison is the 2016 and 2020 elections. In the 2016 election, the democrats (Clinton) won the popular vote but the republicans (Trump) managed to win more key states and won the Electoral College, and the presidency. However, in 2020, the democrats energized were smarter about campaigning and put lots of effort in increasing voter turnout in key swing states. In fact, the republicans voter turnout in 2020 increased by 17.84% in relation to 2016, but democrats increased their voter turnout by 23.43%, which allowed the democrats to win the presidency. This indicates understanding sensitivity of voter turnouts and how it affects the Electoral College is an integral part to predicting which candidate will win the presidential election. There are many minor and major factors that can significantly alter voter turnout for both parties. The objective of this research project is to understand what affects voter turnout and by how much it affects the outcome in key battleground states.
Towards this, I have analyzed the 2016 election in R to understand which states had the closest elections. My analysis of percentage difference between the 2 parties' votes at national scale shows the strategies by both parties at the county level. The republicans campaigned for the more rural areas and won many more counties than the democrats in key battleground states. On the contrary, the democrats campaigned primarily in urban and populous areas, thereby winning the popular vote but not the Electoral College. Another big factor behind the republicans' win was that the republicans won most of the battleground states (Michigan, Florida, and North Carolina) by a close margin. All of these states had the closest margins in 2016 with Michigan being the closest state that year. Out of the top 10 closest state electoral colleges the republicans won 6 of them (102 electoral colleges) and the democrats only won 4 of them (23 electoral colleges). This analysis shows how important it is to focus campaigning in key counties relevant to their base and also sway independents towards their candidates.
I intend on continuing this analysis of voter sensitivity by going through all of the elections in the 2000s. I plan to develop an analysis interface which can take user inputs to analyze the past elections. These user inputs can be a list of past close state Electoral College outcomes or it can be a change in voter turnout indicated by percentage increase/decrease towards a party in key battleground states. I also intend to analyze correlation patterns between voter turnouts and key socio-economic indicators (e.g., employment, economy and crisis). This way we can analyze the change of the close battleground states and use recent events to determine what is having the biggest impact on voter sensitivity.
(Mentor: Dr. Brian Reich, Dept. of Statistics)
Towards this, I have analyzed the 2016 election in R to understand which states had the closest elections. My analysis of percentage difference between the 2 parties' votes at national scale shows the strategies by both parties at the county level. The republicans campaigned for the more rural areas and won many more counties than the democrats in key battleground states. On the contrary, the democrats campaigned primarily in urban and populous areas, thereby winning the popular vote but not the Electoral College. Another big factor behind the republicans' win was that the republicans won most of the battleground states (Michigan, Florida, and North Carolina) by a close margin. All of these states had the closest margins in 2016 with Michigan being the closest state that year. Out of the top 10 closest state electoral colleges the republicans won 6 of them (102 electoral colleges) and the democrats only won 4 of them (23 electoral colleges). This analysis shows how important it is to focus campaigning in key counties relevant to their base and also sway independents towards their candidates.
I intend on continuing this analysis of voter sensitivity by going through all of the elections in the 2000s. I plan to develop an analysis interface which can take user inputs to analyze the past elections. These user inputs can be a list of past close state Electoral College outcomes or it can be a change in voter turnout indicated by percentage increase/decrease towards a party in key battleground states. I also intend to analyze correlation patterns between voter turnouts and key socio-economic indicators (e.g., employment, economy and crisis). This way we can analyze the change of the close battleground states and use recent events to determine what is having the biggest impact on voter sensitivity.
(Mentor: Dr. Brian Reich, Dept. of Statistics)
Smart City Overview
Syeda J Zeeshan (Atholton High School, USA); Jeffrey Chavis (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, USA)
6
This poster outlines what are Smart Cities and why should we integrate these smart city applications into our communities. This work delves into the general benefits of smart technology and their integration into smart cities. I will describe what a normal life would be without the influence of technological advancements in smart cities and then show how smart cites and IOT technology will benefit various aspects of society. As most of the world becomes increasingly technology dependent, corporations and governments will need to collaborate to assess financing for a new wave of smart applications, IoT devices, and artificial intelligence that will shape everyday life. I explore how this may be realized.
Diagnosing Skin Cancer Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Riya J. Roy (Ridge High School, USA)
4
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have many applications in the healthcare field. A life-saving way in which these futuristic tools can be used is to diagnose skin cancer. I developed AI & ML models that can diagnose 7 different forms of skin cancer just from a skin lesion image. My goal was to enable people to upload an image of their skin lesion, and the model will generate a diagnosis for them and a percentage for the diagnosis' accuracy. Thus, anyone can quickly and easily receive a precise diagnosis.
I first researched about skin cancer and found that 1 in 3 cancers are skin cancers, indicating its prevalence. In certain communities, access to professional healthcare is scarce, depriving patients of quality care. To alleviate this, I created a website using AI & ML where people upload a picture of a skin lesion and obtain a diagnosis. Since people upload their own pictures, I had to consider that these images are likely not professional images, but the model should still diagnose it. Hence, I performed data augmentation on my dataset of skin lesion images. I made duplicates of my dataset and manipulated them by flipping, blurring, resizing, or zooming them using OpenCV.
I then created numerous machine learning models such as K Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Grid Search CNN, and Transfer Learning, to determine which model best diagnoses the different skin cancers. I evaluated the models using the Receiver Operator Curve (ROC), which shows the relationship between a model's true positive and true negative rate. To interpret the curve, I used the Area Under the Curve (AUC) metric, which compares the model to one which randomly guesses. Additionally, I plotted Confusion Matrices to view a detailed configuration of each model's performance. After evaluating, I found that my Transfer Model performed the best. For my Transfer Learning model, I used Keras' VGG16 Machine Learning model as the base, and added my own layers of neurons to it. I further improved this model by considering different skin tones, since a bias in the dataset and model can be dangerous to those who use it. Thus, I trained my model on images of multiple skin tones. I then deployed this model to a website I created using JavaScript and HTML.
My design allows people to visit my website, upload an image of their skin lesion, and receive a diagnosis in seconds. My design met my goal of creating a model which could output a diagnosis based off of just a skin lesion image. I also created a user-friendly website that makes the process of receiving a diagnosis easy and efficient.
Going forward, I want to improve my Transfer Learning model as well as explore additional machine learning models. This way I can improve the diagnostic accuracy of my model. This is crucial as a false diagnosis in the medical field can be detrimental. By continuously improving my project, I hope to help those who struggle with skin cancer.
I first researched about skin cancer and found that 1 in 3 cancers are skin cancers, indicating its prevalence. In certain communities, access to professional healthcare is scarce, depriving patients of quality care. To alleviate this, I created a website using AI & ML where people upload a picture of a skin lesion and obtain a diagnosis. Since people upload their own pictures, I had to consider that these images are likely not professional images, but the model should still diagnose it. Hence, I performed data augmentation on my dataset of skin lesion images. I made duplicates of my dataset and manipulated them by flipping, blurring, resizing, or zooming them using OpenCV.
I then created numerous machine learning models such as K Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Grid Search CNN, and Transfer Learning, to determine which model best diagnoses the different skin cancers. I evaluated the models using the Receiver Operator Curve (ROC), which shows the relationship between a model's true positive and true negative rate. To interpret the curve, I used the Area Under the Curve (AUC) metric, which compares the model to one which randomly guesses. Additionally, I plotted Confusion Matrices to view a detailed configuration of each model's performance. After evaluating, I found that my Transfer Model performed the best. For my Transfer Learning model, I used Keras' VGG16 Machine Learning model as the base, and added my own layers of neurons to it. I further improved this model by considering different skin tones, since a bias in the dataset and model can be dangerous to those who use it. Thus, I trained my model on images of multiple skin tones. I then deployed this model to a website I created using JavaScript and HTML.
My design allows people to visit my website, upload an image of their skin lesion, and receive a diagnosis in seconds. My design met my goal of creating a model which could output a diagnosis based off of just a skin lesion image. I also created a user-friendly website that makes the process of receiving a diagnosis easy and efficient.
Going forward, I want to improve my Transfer Learning model as well as explore additional machine learning models. This way I can improve the diagnostic accuracy of my model. This is crucial as a false diagnosis in the medical field can be detrimental. By continuously improving my project, I hope to help those who struggle with skin cancer.
Filtere - Filtering water using a variety of efficient filtration methods
John Tewolde (Grand Blanc Community Schools, USA); Joshua Tewolde (Grand Bland West Middle School, USA); Girma Tewolde (Kettering University, USA)
3
This project is about the design of a low-cost water filtration system. I started this project after I realized how many people got sick or died from drinking contaminated water. When I thought about this, I took to mind how many people I could impact using one invention. Filtere is important to people who do not have access to clean drinking water, because clean water is essential to human life. An important feature about Filtere is that it can be used on any type of container of water because of the places I decided to put the technology I used in. Filtere can impact 2 billion people through its potential!
The problem I solved was the lack of clean drinking water. This is a major world problem that needs to have a solution quickly or the result will be catastrophic. My goal was to engineer an advanced water filter that could remove all bacteria and germs in water.
I solved my problem of making contaminated water drinkable by creating my portable, interchangeable, affordable water filter. My filter is made to fit on top of a water bottle, so that the filter acts as a middleman between the faucet and the bottle, so that it filters the water as it goes through the bottle. You can then take Filtere off the top of the bottle easily for later use. I also kept in mind that the filter would have to be small but effective so that it could fit inside the bottle while filtering water completely. My criteria were as follows: to remove up to 99.99% of bacteria and other harmful particles, to be small and portable for everyday use, to be inexpensive for wide distribution efforts, and to be watertight on behalf of the electronics.
My invention demonstrates the importance of STEM. I used science to learn how to remove bacteria from drinking water. I used technology in the creation of Filtere when I looked at different systems such as GAC (Granular Activated Carbon), Ion Exchange, UV lights, and looking at how they could be implemented in Filtere. I used engineering in Filtere by prototyping different designs of Filtere and analyzing the pros and cons of the designs. I applied math when I created Filtere by doing calculations on the pricing and size of Filtere.
After extensive research, I developed two prototype designs. The major difference between the two is in the number of filters. The first prototype included only one UV light filter. On the other hand, my second design included three filters (GAC, Ion Exchange, and UV light). I chose the second design to meet my filtration criteria. Hence, Filtere can remove much more germs and particles than otherwise possible.
The problem I solved was the lack of clean drinking water. This is a major world problem that needs to have a solution quickly or the result will be catastrophic. My goal was to engineer an advanced water filter that could remove all bacteria and germs in water.
I solved my problem of making contaminated water drinkable by creating my portable, interchangeable, affordable water filter. My filter is made to fit on top of a water bottle, so that the filter acts as a middleman between the faucet and the bottle, so that it filters the water as it goes through the bottle. You can then take Filtere off the top of the bottle easily for later use. I also kept in mind that the filter would have to be small but effective so that it could fit inside the bottle while filtering water completely. My criteria were as follows: to remove up to 99.99% of bacteria and other harmful particles, to be small and portable for everyday use, to be inexpensive for wide distribution efforts, and to be watertight on behalf of the electronics.
My invention demonstrates the importance of STEM. I used science to learn how to remove bacteria from drinking water. I used technology in the creation of Filtere when I looked at different systems such as GAC (Granular Activated Carbon), Ion Exchange, UV lights, and looking at how they could be implemented in Filtere. I used engineering in Filtere by prototyping different designs of Filtere and analyzing the pros and cons of the designs. I applied math when I created Filtere by doing calculations on the pricing and size of Filtere.
After extensive research, I developed two prototype designs. The major difference between the two is in the number of filters. The first prototype included only one UV light filter. On the other hand, my second design included three filters (GAC, Ion Exchange, and UV light). I chose the second design to meet my filtration criteria. Hence, Filtere can remove much more germs and particles than otherwise possible.
Using Technology as a Means for Musical Outreach to Nursing Home Residents
Joshua Tewolde (Grand Bland West Middle School, USA); John Tewolde (Grand Blanc Community Schools, USA); Girma Tewolde (Kettering University, USA)
4
On March 15th, 2020, the coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the WHO. This marked the beginning of the disease which wreaked havoc on our social and economic livelihoods, and continues to do so today. However, the pandemic hasn't hit everyone equally. Unsettlingly, it is our most vulnerable population -- the elderly -- that are most at risk. As of today, nearly 40% of Covid-19 deaths have occurred in Nursing Homes, while they amount to less than 6% of our population. Unfortunately, that is not the only epidemic sweeping our nursing homes. Loneliness, Alzheimer's, and Dementia are rampant as many live for an extended period of time away from loved ones.
In the spring, as my brother and I were isolated at home, our school held a contest in conjunction with the Positivity Project to exemplify character traits in the community by pursuing a project of choice. Our goal for this project was to partner with nursing homes so that we could play music for the seniors and frontline workers over Zoom. At last, on a warm April afternoon, I logged on to Zoom as my brother stood over my shoulder. Over the following summer months and into the fall, we did more than 2 dozen live musical meetups to diverse audiences. In fact, we got so much demand that we ended up releasing a YouTube video in addition to the live streams because of increased demand for the music and social experience, and the video ended up getting nearly 700 views in a matter of months. From Mainers to Texans to Alaskans and Hawaiians, we had the opportunity to perform for frontline workers in nursing homes and our seniors across the States, playing genres from classical to jazz to soothing church hymns.
The presence of music alone can help wonders, not to mention the live human interaction associated with our project. Music can do a very special thing to stimulate the brain. Music first enters through the ears in the form of sound waves, which vibrate after striking the eardrum. After a series of steps, the vibrations reach the cochlea (the key hearing organ), which is filled with a fluid that reacts to the vibrations. As the fluid moves in accordance with the music, thousands of cells translate the fluid's movement to electrical currents, and send the currents to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe of the brain. At that point, information goes out to different parts of the brain, stimulating different areas for different components of music. This cross-brain stimulation is crucial in combating mental conditions such as Alzheimer's or dementia. This is an issue of utmost importance, especially now, when thousands more seniors have died of mental conditions due to the isolation brought by the pandemic.
Note: To evaluate the effectiveness of our outreach, we conducted a preliminary survey and found that we garnered an average of 9.3 on a scale of 10 for level of satisfaction.
In the spring, as my brother and I were isolated at home, our school held a contest in conjunction with the Positivity Project to exemplify character traits in the community by pursuing a project of choice. Our goal for this project was to partner with nursing homes so that we could play music for the seniors and frontline workers over Zoom. At last, on a warm April afternoon, I logged on to Zoom as my brother stood over my shoulder. Over the following summer months and into the fall, we did more than 2 dozen live musical meetups to diverse audiences. In fact, we got so much demand that we ended up releasing a YouTube video in addition to the live streams because of increased demand for the music and social experience, and the video ended up getting nearly 700 views in a matter of months. From Mainers to Texans to Alaskans and Hawaiians, we had the opportunity to perform for frontline workers in nursing homes and our seniors across the States, playing genres from classical to jazz to soothing church hymns.
The presence of music alone can help wonders, not to mention the live human interaction associated with our project. Music can do a very special thing to stimulate the brain. Music first enters through the ears in the form of sound waves, which vibrate after striking the eardrum. After a series of steps, the vibrations reach the cochlea (the key hearing organ), which is filled with a fluid that reacts to the vibrations. As the fluid moves in accordance with the music, thousands of cells translate the fluid's movement to electrical currents, and send the currents to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe of the brain. At that point, information goes out to different parts of the brain, stimulating different areas for different components of music. This cross-brain stimulation is crucial in combating mental conditions such as Alzheimer's or dementia. This is an issue of utmost importance, especially now, when thousands more seniors have died of mental conditions due to the isolation brought by the pandemic.
Note: To evaluate the effectiveness of our outreach, we conducted a preliminary survey and found that we garnered an average of 9.3 on a scale of 10 for level of satisfaction.
Session Chair
To Be Determined
Session Poster-6
Poster Session 6
Conference
3:00 PM
—
4:45 PM EST
Local
Mar 13 Sat, 12:00 PM
—
1:45 PM PST
Automated Classification and Conceptualizing 3D Shape, Texture, and Pose of Wildlife in Camera Trap Imagery for Enhanced Conservation Efforts
Thomas Y Chen (Academy for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, USA)
1
Wildlife across the planet have been ravaged by numerous devastating factors, including climate change, deforestation, hunting, and pollution, leading to many taxa being classified as threatened, endangered, and critically endangered. As more species disappear, the loss of biodiversity contributes to not only the decline of ecosystems but also adverse impacts on human livelihoods, income, local migration, food sources, medicine, and health outcomes. To combat this troubling trend and provide resources for species' conservation, wildlife biologists must have access to accurate and efficient computational tools to detect, classify, and assess individuals and populations. Camera traps have emerged as a widely utilized technology to capture images of wildlife at all times of day, allowing scientists to study them without disruption to their daily activities. Because large quantities of data are necessary for deep learning, many datasets have been published, each containing different combinations of species categories. The Labeled Information Library of Alexandria: Biology and Conservation (Lila BC) is an open data repository housing many such datasets, including "Great Zebra and Giraffe Count," "Whale Shark," "BIRDSAI," "Amur Tiger Re-identification in the Wild," etc. Baseline models have been trained on these datasets (with code in publicly released Github repositories) and data is downloadable. While conventional methods required scientists to manually peruse the thousands of images produced, recent deep learning approaches have allowed for rapid, accurate classification and assessment. Furthermore, there have been recent advances in the unsupervised translation of objects in 2D images to 3D representations including shape and texture. In this proposal, I propose the combination of these two techniques into one project to classify animals in a diverse camera trap imagery dataset and subsequently create 3D models of them, for the purpose of enhanced knowledge about trends within endangered populations. I have started this project as an independent research endeavor. I am a student researcher with extensive experience in machine learning research that works with researchers at MIT and the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) on other projects, including for assessing damage in objects in imagery using computer vision. I have previously presented research at machine learning/AI conferences like NeurIPS and AAAI workshops.
Eddy Current Pendulum Brake
Edward Rossi Banfe (Princeton High School & Engineering Projects In Community Service, USA)
0
My poster for the 2021 IEEE STEM Education Conference is a demonstration on Eddy currents at work and how they are applied throughout the world. On the poster, there will be diagrams of how Eddy currents work, the history of Eddy currents, and Eddy currents used in technology today. Eddy currents work by nonmagnetic, but conductive metals such as copper and aluminum resisting movement in a magnetic field, or vice versa. As an example, the experiment that I shall present is a copper disc pendulum that passes a pair of magnets. When the copper disc passes the magnets it is a conductor going through a stationary magnetic field, which means that Lenz's law, which states that the direction of the electric current which is induced in a conductor by a changing magnetic field is such that the magnetic field created by the induced current opposes the initial changing magnetic field, applies. So when our pendulum passes the magnets, an opposite force to the pendulums momentum is applied, decreasing its speed by a massive margin. Eddy currents were first observed in 1824 by François Arago when he noticed rotary magnetism in conductive metals. Léon Focault is credited with the discovery of Eddy currents in September, 1855 when he observed increased force being needed to rotate a copper disc between magnets. Today, Eddy currents are used as frictionless brakes in countless roller coasters and was the brake of the Japanese Shinkansen until the N700 series, which used regenerative braking instead. Eddy currents are also used in dynamometers to control loads placed on an engine during sessions.
Utilizing Computer Vision for Natural Disaster Relief Efforts from Satellite Imagery
Thomas Y Chen (Academy for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, USA)
2
Climate change threatens ecosystems and human civilization across the globe. Particularly, one of its most devastating effects is the increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters, including extreme weather events like floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Inevitably, the increase in these devastating events causes the loss of human lives, the destruction of structures and property, and overall economic loss. Therefore, we present a deep learning methodology building off of previous work that examines which input modalities are most useful for training convolutional neural networks for post-disaster damage assessment, as well as loss-functions and other model specifications. This project was completed with the mentorship of Ethan Weber, of MIT. I am currently working with his lab to conduct further research on damage assessment in imagery using deep learning-based computer vision. Natural disasters devastating countless communities every single year. From hurricanes to tornadoes to earthquakes to floods, these events cause the loss of human lives and properties. Additionally, they cause building damage that reflects the severity of the disaster in the different areas that were stricken. Therefore, in order to allocate resources in a timely manner after these disasters so that a swift recovery can progress, there must be computational mechanisms to accurately and efficiently assess the levels of damage to buildings caused. We can do this through machine learning, using satellite imagery as our source of data. By training convolutional neural networks on training data consisting of concatenated pairs of images that were taken pre- and post-disaster, respectively, we can create technologies that predict how damaged buildings were. We do exactly that, and also focus on the aspect of interpretability of the models (the level to which humans can understand the inner decision-making processes of the machine learning algorithms). This is especially important when keeping in mind the end users of this research, which are primarily in disaster-prone and remote areas. We train nine convolutional networks with different input modalities, including the pre-disaster image, post-disaster image, and disaster type, as well as different loss functions, including cross-entropy loss, ordinal cross-entropy loss, and mean squared error, and compare the accuracy results.
The Use of Optimization and Derivatives in Calculus to Create More Sustainable Food Packaging
Kyle Mayers (The Lawrenceville School, USA)
2
This project seeks to reduce consumption of packaging materials for chip bags by using Calculus. The gaol of this project is to inform manufacturers of their capabilities to create more sustainable packaging while relieving the burden of consumers to be unrealistically sustainable. The poster will cover the process by which optimization and derivatives are used to create the perfect chip bag; this bag will also have the perfect ratio of empty space to chips so that the product stays fresh and tastes good. by displaying the calculus process used to determine the dimensions of the bag, both consumers and manufacturers can walk away knowing how calculus is tied to sustainability.
Classification of Skin Phenotype: Melanoma Skin Cancer
Ayushi Kumar (Monroe Township High School, Monroe Township, NJ, USA); Ari Kapelyan (Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ, USA); Avimanyou K Vatsa (Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, USA)
1
Skin cancer (skin phenotype) is most common cancer in United State of America (USA). Skin cancer can affect anyone, regardless of skin color, race, gender, and age. The characteristics of skin phenotype of melanoma lesion has an arbitrary shape, size, uneven and rough edge, and cannot be divided in half. Further, it is a leading cause of deaths worldwide. Every year, more than 5 million patients are newly diagnosed in USA. The deadliest and serious form of skin cancer is called melanoma.
The diagnosis of melanoma has been done by visual examination and manual techniques by skilled doctors. It is time consuming process and highly prone to error. The skin images captured by dermoscopy eliminates the surface reflection of skin and gives better visualization of deeper levels of skin. In spite of these, image of skin lesion has many artifacts, noises, complex nature of lesion structure. Due to these complex natures of images, the border detection, feature extraction, and classification process is a complex problem. In order to identify and predict melanoma in early stage, there is need to classify images using better classification and prediction algorithms.
Therefore, there is need to make an efficient, effective, and accurate melanoma identification, classification, and prediction such that it may be identified and classified in very early stage. The goal of this poster is to review and analyze the various classification deep learning algorithms - Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) - on images of skin lesions on each one of those and test with publicly available International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC) archive large data sets. Also, ISIC raw datasets will be preprocessed and resized to make the data compatible to algorithms. Moreover, the performance of these algorithms will be measures and compared using five parameters including ROC.
The diagnosis of melanoma has been done by visual examination and manual techniques by skilled doctors. It is time consuming process and highly prone to error. The skin images captured by dermoscopy eliminates the surface reflection of skin and gives better visualization of deeper levels of skin. In spite of these, image of skin lesion has many artifacts, noises, complex nature of lesion structure. Due to these complex natures of images, the border detection, feature extraction, and classification process is a complex problem. In order to identify and predict melanoma in early stage, there is need to classify images using better classification and prediction algorithms.
Therefore, there is need to make an efficient, effective, and accurate melanoma identification, classification, and prediction such that it may be identified and classified in very early stage. The goal of this poster is to review and analyze the various classification deep learning algorithms - Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) - on images of skin lesions on each one of those and test with publicly available International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC) archive large data sets. Also, ISIC raw datasets will be preprocessed and resized to make the data compatible to algorithms. Moreover, the performance of these algorithms will be measures and compared using five parameters including ROC.
Understanding Complex Malware
Daniel Edis (1Bergen County Technical High School, Teterboro, NJ, USA); Taylor Hayman (Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ, USA); Avimanyou K Vatsa (Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, USA)
2
With the surge of cybercrime and contribution of malware (malicious software) attacks in cybercrime, there is need to design a smart and deep engine-based Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). The malware could be virous, worm, trojan, etc. and their behaviors are dynamic and static in nature. IDS may monitor events and activity of malware and classify them in order that prediction of potential attacks can be made for users' sensitive data and associated computational resources. Moreover, the false positive rate alarming of IDS systems is high. Therefore, there is need to reconsider the design of IDS systems, increase its detection accuracy, and elevate prediction of vulnerable attacks. Further, new IDS must capable to deal with nonlinear behavior of malware datasets and model must have better fitting ability. Therefore, in order to protect and avoid vulnerable attacks, we would like to contribute an implementation of a deep learning algorithm - Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) - on Microsoft Malware Classification Dataset (BIG 2015) datasets. Also, BIG 2015 raw datasets will be preprocessed and resized to make the data compatible to these algorithms. Moreover, the performance of these algorithms will be measures and compared using these parameters - Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1 score, Loss, True Positives, True Negatives, False Positives, and False Negatives, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve by calculating the AUC (the area under the ROC curve).
Magnetic Levitation in Motion
Jesse Miller (McCullough Jr. High School, The Woodlands, TX, USA)
2
This project analyzed the physics of magnetic propulsion by modeling the propulsion system of a MagLev train. A scale model was created using electromagnets to simulate the attracting/repelling forces that cause MagLev trains to move. The speed of the model train was recorded as a function of the pull force of the electromagnets. A magnet strength equivalent to 11 pounds of pull force was shown to produce the most cost-effective results.
Next, the levitation system of a MagLev train was studied by creating a scale model of a track using neodymium magnets. The levitation height was measured as a function of the pull force of the magnets. No strong increase in height was observed.
Thousands of people use MagLevs daily in Japan. In Japan, MagLevs shorten travel times for commuters significantly, in addition to decreasing traffic congestion and pollution on busy freeways. Many countries, including the US, are planning to build MagLev trains to reduce travel times in their countries. The same principles tested here can be scaled up and applied to real MagLev trains in order to make travel faster and more cost effective for the average citizen.
Next, the levitation system of a MagLev train was studied by creating a scale model of a track using neodymium magnets. The levitation height was measured as a function of the pull force of the magnets. No strong increase in height was observed.
Thousands of people use MagLevs daily in Japan. In Japan, MagLevs shorten travel times for commuters significantly, in addition to decreasing traffic congestion and pollution on busy freeways. Many countries, including the US, are planning to build MagLev trains to reduce travel times in their countries. The same principles tested here can be scaled up and applied to real MagLev trains in order to make travel faster and more cost effective for the average citizen.
Session Chair
To Be Determined
Made with in Toronto · Privacy Policy · IEEE ISEC 2020 · © 2021 Duetone Corp.