Greenhills Advanced Research Night 2020

Astrophysics is a field of study that contains the most unknowns in our modern society. To develop a better understanding, our research was designed around the brand new field of gravitational wave detection. This is the detection of ripples in spacetime as massive rotating interstellar objects revolve around each other. When these massive bodies such as black holes or neutron stars make oscillations, they bend spacetime, until they eventually get so close that they merge together. Much like dropping a pebble into a pond, these waves create ripples in the fabric of spacetime, but instead of water being transmitted, these waves travel at the speed of light. Using state of the art technology, these massive binary systems are detectable using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO). This is a michelson interferometer-type design that uses the slightest difference in lasers spanning multiple kilometers. Our research focused on mapping out and listing these merger systems.

Jack Mikhail

Greenhills School

Uveal melanoma is the most primary eye cancer seen in adults from 50-80 years of age, representing 3-5% of all melanoma cases. While localized tumor treatment is effective, over 50% of patients develop metastatic uveal melanoma up to 10 years after their initial diagnosis, which is so far untreatable and has a prognosis of 17-20 months. The ability to evade the immune system is a unique characteristic of uveal melanoma. This occurs because the eye is an immune privileged organ meaning it is able to tolerate the entrance of antigens without inducing an inflammatory immune response, allowing cancer cells to establish and create a tumor within the eye. Uveal melanoma is characterized by distinct driver mutations, GNAQ, GNA11, CYSLTR2, and PLCB4 which are associated with a variety of cell signaling pathways. Although treatment is unsuccessful, researchers have made great strides in understanding the genetics of uveal melanoma. My research was spent learning about the pathophysiology of uveal melanoma followed by an analysis of current research. Through literary review, current clinical trials were reviewed and future directions in research were noted. It was determined that monosomy 3 and the BAP1 gene are important areas for future uveal melanoma research. These mutations and aberrations are highly linked to metastatic uveal melanoma. Further research may be able to uncover a way to inhibit the functions of these aberrations and mutations and improve clinical outcomes.

Jillian White

Greenhills School

Abstract: I analyzed 100 articles from the New York Times, Washington Post, and Guardian to determine whether the articles and their comments analyzed met the defined criteria of being offensive towards parents and directed towards mothers under the searches “Childhood Obesity” and “Childhood Obesity and Parenting.” Articles and their comments could be offensive towards parents if they blamed parents for childhood obesity and/or used slurs towards parents, and the articles and comments were directed towards mothers if they mentioned mothers without fathers being mentioned and/or used slurs towards mothers. The results showed that the articles and their comments analyzed were offensive towards parents, and articles were directed towards mothers, but their comments weren't.

Maria Fata

Greenhills School, University of Michigan

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an important field to study because it is a major component of the fourth industrial revolution. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of sensors that collects data and shares it, via the internet with computers that analyze it. This project aimed to research how to configure hardware and software components for a home monitoring system. This study focused on gaining understanding of the inner workings of computers and their operating system. The low-cost nature of the study required using open source (free) software, which in turn led to the need for exploring version control repository platforms like Git. The research culminated in the creation of a low-cost home monitoring system and a web server to display the data collected during the project.

Max Rothe van Deventer

Greenhills School, Luleå University of Technology

The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Identifying the groups of people most vulnerable to the virus was immediately a key area of research. This literature review examines articles found through the PubMed search engine. The structure of the virus and how it infects host cells in the lungs reveals the connection the virus can have to smoking. The ACE-2 receptor helps with the binding of the virus, and the expression of ACE-2 has been found to be increased in smokers. With a higher expression of ACE-2, smokers become more susceptible to being infected with the virus. The data compiled here could lead to the conclusion that men develop more severe forms of COVID-19, and that smokers are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. The importance of researching the more vulnerable groups should not be underestimated as one way among many to help decrease the effects of SARS-CoV-2.

Mehree Islam

University of Michigan, Department of Surgery and Greenhills School

Computers are now standard in every household and occupation. The goal of this project was to measure the tracking performance under two conditions: unpredictable movement and predictable movement of the target. One participant was selected to interact with MATLAB code. The participant is a male aged 17. He also has mild dyslexia but that variable isn’t being tested in this experiment. The participant tracked the dot for 12 seconds. To quantify this performance, the mean error and time difference between the target motion and the participant’s response was used. After completing 60 trials, 30 being predictable and 30 being unpredictable, it can be concluded that the mean error for predictable movement is much smaller than the mean error for unpredictable movement. Also, the time delay for unpredictable movement is greater than the time delay for predictable movement. It is believed, since the participant knows where and when the dot on the screen is going to move they don’t have to guess with their mouse movement, making movement more precise.

Sean Henry

Greenhills School

Adolescence is a pivotal time in one's life. During this period many begin to envision themselves as adults. In particular, many begin to worry about their futures. This study was designed in order to discover more about the possible influence that race and gender may have on these future-oriented worries. This study used a sample of 662 eighth grade students from a city in Michigan (population 407,000), who were asked about their worries when considering their futures. Their responses were organized into twenty-one categories and then stratified by race and gender. The findings of this study confirm that there are significant differences in the worries of adolescents with regard to race and gender. These findings will be crucial for initiating programs in schools to bolster students' well-being and preparedness for the future.

Sophia Emerson

Greenhills School and the University of Michigan

While Apple’s manufacturing of the iPhone in China has been very successful so far, the company is suddenly being pressured to consider moving some or all of its production into another country. The decline in trade relations between the United States and China and the shutting down of factories due to the coronavirus have proven that all of Apple's production being in one country is a risky business move. The cost of and access to labor, the access to infrastructure, and the ability to move the supply chain are the main problems Apple is looking to solve through a potential move. The primary contenders for Apple- Indonesia, Thailand, India, and Vietnam- have been carefully considered for all of their potential prospects. While India is leading among the four contenders, Apple is still left with a hefty business decision to make.

Yusuf Mian

Greenhills School and Florida International University

After gaining attention from the United Nations, the consideration of the links between corruption and business and human rights is becoming more prevalent. This is important because not only is corruption illegal, but also, corporations have an ethical obligation to “respect” human rights under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. In many situations, understanding how and why human rights violations occur requires understanding the role of corruption. With this knowledge, we are then in a better position to make recommendations on what corporations should be doing to respect human rights. The exploration of how corporations are connected to human rights violations in their supply chain through corruption will help initiate the process of turning an ethical obligation into a legal one.

Cerella Zhuang

Greenhills School, The University of Michigan Ross School of Business

Machine Learning has often been described as a black box, things go in and new ones come out, it was the goal of my research to remove that element from Machine Learning. Machine Learning is not a new field, having been first conceived in the 1950’s, as such it has many uses in a wide variety of fields. Machine Learning is used in cyber security, social media and has been applied in the medical field. This wide array of possibilities is due to the skeletal like structure of Machine Learning, which provides the framework of equations and programs and it is then left to the user to fill in the data and what they want done to the data. This is what allows Machine Learning to be used in so many situations. Machine learning encapsulates two major categories of equations: Supervised Learning and Unsupervised Learning. During my research I was tasked with understanding and communicating the core elements of these two categories on an intuitive level.

Ethan Kahlenberg

Biomedical Engineering, Department of Radiology University of Michigan, Greenhills School

The Notch signaling pathway is a cell-cell communication pathway that regulates key processes of cellular proliferation and differentiation. There are 4 Notch receptors, NOTCH1-4, and 5 Notch ligands, Delta-like 1 (DLL1), Delta-like 3 (DLL3), Delta-like 4 (DLL4), Jagged 1 (JAG1) and Jagged 2 (JAG2), that are expressed in mammals. My research focused on figuring out which ligand played the biggest role in Notch signaling. Using genetically modified mice, we inhibited certain Notch ligands using Notch inhibitory antibodies and compared the number of gastrin producing cells present in the tissue and then analyzed the results to figure out which ligand had the biggest effect in Notch signaling by calculating the change of gastrin producing cells between the mice with inhibited ligands and the control group.

Nik Srinivasan

Samuelson Lab, Molecular and Physiology Department, University of Michigan

Background: Epidemiological research and methods are useful in the field of medicine for answering questions related to the health of groups & individuals The purpose of this study: to explore the different types of epidemiological research methods utilized within Zero to Thrive (Z2T), a maternal-child mental health lab at Michigan Medicine.

Methods: A series of 6 semi-structured, open-ended virtual interviews were conducted with research team members who manage various Z2T studies; 4 of the interviews garnered relevant information. Interview questions focused on study design, research coordinators’ role, research questions, methodology, participants, data outcomes, study limitations, etc. Interviews were audio & video-recorded and lasted 45-60 minutes. Handwritten notes were also taken during & after each interview to ensure accuracy.

Results: Discussions reveal that Z2T studies were: 1. longitudinal in design, 2. primarily observational, experimental, or quasi-experimental 3. involved mothers/infants/small children as participants, and 4. Collected participant feedback (narrative interviews, questionnaires, video-recorded interactions, etc.).

Conclusion: longitudinal observational, experimental & quasi-experimental research designs are best suited for the research foci of Z2T. Participant feedback data is a critical element of research on interventions designed to impact maternal & infant mental health. Outcomes from this study will be used for future research designed to explore the relationship between music therapy and postpartum depression.

Limitations: Due to COVID restrictions, I was unable to observe any data or data collection from the Z2T studies. Additionally, study discussions did not include participant demographic characteristics or descriptions.

Olivia Johnson

Zero to Thrive, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

This summer I researched the impact of exercise on Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that leads to shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with walking, balance, and coordination which ultimately leads to disability. Parkinson's disease occurs when nerve cells, or neurons, in an area of the brain that controls movement become impaired and/or die. Normally, these neurons produce an important brain chemical known as dopamine. When the neurons die or become impaired, they produce less dopamine, which causes the movement problems of Parkinson's. The purpose of my research was to create a physical therapy plan that would help improve the movement skills of patients. With the research I did, I found that the best results came from aerobic training, so that is what I focused on. There will be four different groups. A treadmill group, high intensity interval training group, moderate intensity interval training group, and a stretching group which will act as the control. Unfortunately, covid has restricted my research host and me from actually being able to implement this exercise plan with real patients. Once everything becomes safe enough, we will gather our patients and work with them for 4 months to see results.

Sydney Keller

Greenhills School, University of Southern California

The overwhelming majority of personal vehicles around the world depend on the consumption of fuel. Aside from it being a finite resource, fuel, and burning it, is damaging to the environment. While many production vehicles incorporate a cruise control system, few are focused on improving fuel efficiency, and are rather convenient means of enhancing the driving experience. While there are applicable driving behaviors that can be learned from humans, it can be understood that a cruise control system, a form of semi-automation, can drive more efficiently. Cruise control systems have the ability to eliminate errors and inconsistencies in human driving. This paper outlines the process of making a cruise control simulation via modeling software. While saving fuel was the motivation behind these efforts, the model achieved in the allotted amount of time, while functional, was not fine-tuned to optimize fuel efficiency.

Will Stephens

University of Michigan, Powertrain Control Lab

Pathologists thoroughly scan tissue slides containing millions of cells to identify areas of abnormality within a short time frame. This increases the risk that cancerous cells are undetected, affecting patient survival rates. The Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan is using artificial intelligence to aid pathologists in the diagnostic process. These programs, known as Clinical Decision Support Systems, review patient histology slides and identify areas requiring further examination by a pathologist, improving efficiency and accuracy. Clinical Decision Support Systems can one day bring digital and remote pathology expertise to underserved populations like Ghana’s, where there are only three pathologists serving 30 million. However, before any analysis by Clinical Decision Support Systems can take place, tissue samples are stained to distinguish cellular tissues and structures and then converted into digital images known as Whole Slide Images. For whole slide images to be accurately analyzed by Clinical Decision Support Systems, they are corrected for color variations resulting from tissue staining and preparation through a process called normalization. This research used Python code to compare the effect of two prevalent color normalization methods, Reinhard and Macenko, on a set of whole slide images from The Cancer Genome Atlas Melanoma Dataset. For whole slide images with significant whitespace, Macenko normalization produces more accurate results than Reinhard normalization. Reinhard normalization is more accurate for contrast; the nuclei appear more distinct. This research is a new contribution utilizing The Cancer Genome Atlas Melanoma Dataset and is an important step towards appropriate selection of color normalization methods within a standardized system.

Yousef Emara

University of Michigan, Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics

Within Mozambique, the prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus is higher inside areas formerly under a private company’s control and among women. The reason appears to be a greater household bargaining power for women outside the company’s land due to the absence of their husbands. This research aims to help address these gaps by analyzing census data to see the spread of men around the concession boundary. We analyzed Mozambique's 1960 census and focused specifically on the marital status of two age groups: 20-39 and 40-59. We then constructed xy scatter plots to see the relationship between the distance to the concession boundary and the percentage of men who are single. While the fact that there were less single men than married men in the areas formally ruled by the private company (south of the boundary) is consistent with our hypothesis, we were surprised to see the percentage of single men 500+ kilometers north of the boundary to be lower than the percentage of single men less than 500 kilometers north of the boundary.

Abby Lin

Greenhills school, University of Michigan

The objective of this study was to examine the different effects of fatigue on the driving abilities of different aged adults. Driver fatigue was determined to be the cause of 21% of collisions that resulted in a death. It is known fatigue driving is hazardous, but the effects of fatigue on the driving of different aged adults has not been significantly investigated.

A secondary analysis was conducted of driving data for three age groups, old old cognitively normal adults, young old cognitively normal adults, and young cognitively normal adults. The extent to which fatigue affects these age groups while driving was investigated. The data analyzed was from a study in which young, young old, and old old drivers participated in a 50-minute simulated drive designed to induce fatigue. The data was analyzed by conducting various post-hoc tests using SPSS statistics for each of the driving measures recorded over the 50 minutes.

Results show that younger drivers (ages 18-30) were more affected by fatigue than the young old (ages 54-64) or old old (ages 68-88) drivers. Young drivers' lateral lane position varied significantly more than that of the other two age groups, and their driving errors and lateral lane position standard deviation steadily increased throughout the 50 minutes. However, older drivers’ velocity varied more.

These findings signify that both younger and older drivers need to be cognizant of the mental state in which they are driving in, and they must be aware of the implications that fatigue driving can cause.

Bhaavna Yalavarthi

University of Michigan, Neuropsychology Program

The name TREX1 (or 3’ repair exonuclease 1) represents a gene and corresponding protein tasked with the cleanup of excess DNA and RNA in the cytosol. Although a seemingly simple function, its contribution to the homeostasis of the immune system is immense; those with autoimmune conditions involving TREX1 mutations are subject to an onslaught of painful and damaging symptoms due to DNA and RNA buildup in the cells. In recent studies, however, researchers are focusing on TREX1 and its newfound connections to cancer. Results have been published that describe TREX1 as integral to the anchorage and growth of cancer, and detail the promising treatment of TREX1 silencing. This contrast of importance to homeostasis and benefit to tumor health brings new questions as to how TREX1 silencing could be used without triggering detrimental autoimmune response. With much left to discover in one small protein, this research is at the cutting edge of humanity's battle against cancer.

Claire Walter

Greenhills School, University of Michigan

Because of the onset of technological powered globalization, how cultures affect business is a topic that was widely under researched but is now being pushed towards the forefront of marketing research. In order to determine whether there is a more specific correlation between one dimension of culture, Specific vs. Diffuse, and how consumers view brand extension, we collected the number of Standard Industry Codes from the top 50 Companies across 5 different countries (USA, India, Germany, Japan, Korea), and determined if there was a statistical significance in the difference between the number of Standard Industry Codes Using this data on the number of Standard Industry Codes from each of the top 50 companies from these countries, we ran a One-Way (or single factor) Analysis Over Variance test using the data analysis program on Microsoft Excel to determine whether the difference in the mean number of Standard Industry Codes for the five countries matched our hypothesis From our Single Factor Analysis Over Variance test we were able to reject our null hypothesis This showed a probable correlation between the average brand distance of top companies and how specific vs diffuse a culture was.

Ethan Mo

Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

The exploration of the stratosphere is relatively new. However, the possibility and upside of having a system that high in their air is undeniable. Aloft Research Corp. is revolutionizing these systems with the development of the StratoSat, an air balloon that compresses with its ballasts to rise and fall, using the stratospheric winds as propellers for horizontal navigation. For further development of the StratoSat, a simulation must be built that is capable of examining how its different designs function in varying environmental conditions. For this Flight Dynamics Model (FDM), JSBSim, an open-source simulator was chosen. Testing took place to determine the function of many of the variables of the simulator, with a focus on the engine controls and ballast controls. Once sufficient testing had occurred, a test-case was constructed that controls the chosen aircraft to perform certain actions concerning the ballasts and engines, namely rising and performing turns. Once the StratoSat module has been built in JSBSim, this test-case will assist in further research regarding the StratoSat.

Finn Feldeisen

Greenhills School, Aloft Research Corp.

Chymosin, also known as rennin, is the key component in a set of enzymes known in the cheese-making industry as rennet. Rennet, as a whole, is responsible for the coagulation of casein in milk, separating it into liquid whey and solid curds, the latter of which goes on to become cheese. Chymosin is traditionally extracted from the lining in the fourth stomach of ruminant mammals. Though most market chymosin is extracted from calves, chymosin may also be produced through the genetic engineering of microbes, where a copy of the mammalian chymosin gene is inserted through a plasmid vector and into certain filamentous fungi, bacterium, and yeast. Commercially, a wide variety of hosts can be used to produce recombinant chymosin, though the focus of my research was on Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Aspergillus niger (A. niger). I used pre-existing sources to assess any known safety hazards associated with recombinant chymosin from these two microbes, as well as providing an explanation of and background to recombinant DNA technology.

Rory Conlin

Henry Ford Hospital and Greenhills School

The summer of 2020, data that had been collected using various water quality sensors from Lake Superior had to be merged in order to be analyzed. A program that would merge two separate data sets from an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) into one data set, allowing faster analysis of the data, was required along with some graphs of the resulting merged data. This program reads the color dissolved organic matter (CDOM) data from one file and the AUV positional data from another, finds lines with correlated time stamps, and prints the correlated data to one file. This allows the CDOM data to be geolocated along with other data located in the AUV position file. This poster discusses the completed program, Geomerger, and the graphs created from its output using a data visualization tool, Surfer, and the processes involved. While writing the code, “storyboarding” was used, which is a method implemented by professional programmers to divide large projects into smaller, more manageable tasks, called “stories.” Each story is subject to review on a Review Board, and subsequently bug tested to ensure it works as intended. The graphs of the resulting data were created using a program called Surfer and show various noteworthy relationships within the data.

Sebastian Adams

Michigan Technological University, Great Lakes Research Center

PCDH19 related epilepsy is characterized by clusters of febrile seizures with onset before the age of three years leading to cognitive impairment and behavior abnormalities. PCDH19 related epilepsy manifests itself in females heterozygous for the PCDH19 gene caused by random X-inactivation. To model PCDH19 related epilepsy, female PCDH19 knockout mice were crossed with male X-GFP mice. Female offspring display a segregation pattern of PCDH19+/GFP+ and PCDH19-/GFP- in the cortex and hippocampus. We hypothesize that there is a deficiency of inhibitory cells in the hippocampus and cortex in females with PRE and the deficiency causes seizures. Images of hippocampus and cortex were analyzed by quantifying Parvalbumin and GABAergic cells from different PCDH19 cell populations. A significant difference was found in Parvalbumin cell density in PCDH19+/- mouse hippocampus when compared to control (p value of 0.0087 and significance level set at p <0.05). This suggests that PCDH19 may play a role in inhibitory cell distribution in the CA1 region. The presence of fewer inhibitory neurons in the PCDH19 animals would suggest that they may have less inhibition, and therefore would be prone to seizures (too much excitation). No significant difference was found in GABAergic cells and in the cortex. Next steps involve looking at the other GABA cell subtypes (somatostatin, calretinin, calbindin, VIP). All GABA-ergic cell types need to be stained at varying developmental stages and then slice electrophysiology needs to be done to determine if the brains are more excitable.

Zeeshan Bhalwani

University of Michigan and Greenhills School

The conducted study determined the effects of ship traffic on fish living in the wetlands on the St. Marys river. Two wetlands were sampled, a protected zone, in a bay away from the shipping channel, and an unprotected zone, located right next to the shipping channel. Water quality data was taken to make sure these wetlands shared similar conditions, so the only variable would be the water fluctuations due to ship traffic. After the water quality data was matched, the next step was to sample the two schoen sites that were equal size. For sampling, three separate fyke nets, using rebar to secure them, were set for twenty-four hours. The next day the fish that swam into the nets were identified and counted for total count fish per site. Both sites had 9 different fish species that were sampled. The fish species at site one were Young of Year Smallmouth Bass, Mimic Shiners, Yellow Perch, Bluntnose Minnow, Brown Bullhead, Golden Shiner, Spottail Shiner, Bluegill and Pumpkinseed Sunfish. The 9 types of fish caught in our unprotected nets are Young of Year Smallmouth Bass, Mimic Shiners, Johnny Darters, Yellow Perch, Mottled Sculpin, Rock Bass, Smallmouth bass, Common Carp, and White Sucker. The Young of Year Smallmouth Bass had the largest populations in both wetlands, protected 98.9 percent, and unprotected 50 percent. They were followed by Mimics as the second largest, then any of the fish species was 1 percent or less of the total amount of fish caught. Even though they held a significantly different total number of fish, the ratios were about equal when comparing the average number of fish per species. The protected zone averaged about 72 fish caught per net, whereas our protected zone averaged only 5 fish caught per net. The average number of fish caught per net was calculated by taking the total number of fish caught in each net fished per zone, adding them together then dividing them by the number of nets fished. After analyzing the water data there was a clear difference in water fluctuation between the protected and unprotected zone (15 centimeters or 0.5 foot change). With our fish data and water fluctuation analysis there seems to be a disturbance to the upper water columns when ships pass. This leads there to be more bottom feeding fish that live in wetlands closer to the shipping channel (carp, suckers), whereas our protected zone had a wide variety of fish that spanned all water columns. In conclusion, water fluctuation caused by ship traffic, does affect the fish living in the wetlands.

Ben Toporski

Greenhills School

There are still gaps in science’s understanding of virulence, or the harm caused to a host by a given parasite. This is in large part due to the many factors that influence virulence, including parasite and host genetics; environmental factors such as the spatial structure of host populations; and other organism-specific factors, like host health. One of the factors that has been shown to affect the evolution of virulence is the social network structure of host and parasite populations, although the exact role this plays remains murky. Using software called Avida, which mimics naturally-occurring evolution using digital modeling, I examine the effects of various levels of social connectivity on the evolution of virulence. I link grids containing host and parasite organisms in Newman-Watts-Strogatz graphs of different connectivities. I vary levels of migration between linked grids, and I vary the overall rate of mutation. I find that lower levels of migration generally lead to lower virulence. In addition, coevolution leads to lower and more variable virulence, while connectivity level appears to have only modest effects.

Lilja Quinn

Greenhills School, University of Michigan

It is difficult to develop new and more effective ways of producing radiopharmaceuticals needed for positron emission tomography, a process by which a positron emitting substance is used to detect metabolic activity based on a radioactive tracer attached to a metabolized substance. It is important that this process is done efficiently to allow for more scans to be done cost effectively. This study used the process of machine learning to accelerate the process of developing new and higher yielding methods of synthesizing radiopharmaceuticals, as opposed to the often used method of trial and error. In order to use machine learning in this way, thousands of data points are collected containing data on properties of different processes of producing the radiopharmaceutical. These data points were randomly split into a group that was used to train a function that would model the data points. Once this is done, the remaining smaller set of data called the “test set” is used to check how well the data fits to the function in order to see how well the machine learning model works. Utilizing machine learning for the catalysis presents itself to provide a more efficient and cost effective way of producing positron emission tomography pharmaceuticals.

Matthew Karpenko

Greenhills School, University of Michigan Department of Radiology

Previous cultural psychology work has shown a bias in which people protect their close others (parents, close friends, etc.) versus distant others (dentist, landlord, etc.) when they witness them committing crimes. Since interpersonal decisions are rooted in people’s perceptions of and expectations about the relationships between the self and others, this relational bias may be importantly modulated by cultural context. In previous studies, it has been shown that the Japanese demonstrate a significantly weaker bias toward protecting close (versus distant) others who commit crimes. Japan is typically a collectivistic, interdependent, sociocentric, and holistic society. The self is understood in relation to others, in terms of one’s role in society. Americans, on the other hand, prioritize the individual over society. This may have a lot to do with American culture generally being individualistic, independent, egocentric, and analytical. The self is understood as discrete, possessing individual traits and moral character. This study tested if cultural priming of individualism or collectivism had an effect on Americans while considering moral decisions that varied in relational closeness. The study found that Americans, when primed with collectivism were less likely to protect the perpetrator regardless of relationship. Americans were also more likely to report distant others than close others. These findings underscore the importance of context in shaping interpersonal moral decisions.

Nathan Koh

Greenhills School

Color normalization in whole-slide images is the process of normalizing histology slides from many different sources to all look like they came from the same source. When histopathology slides are being prepared, color normalization is used to correct any inconsistencies in the slide. This normalization makes it much easier for deep learning systems to learn and analyze whole-slide images. Through deep learning, we can make it easier for pathologists to analyze histology slides, decreasing physician-patient turnaround time. This will also increase patient care in hospitals and clinics. We reviewed multiple different color normalization methods and analyzed their effectiveness. We compared and contrasted each method and tried to find which ones have the highest computational ability.

Shivan Amin

Greenhills School, University of Michigan, Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Medicine

The aim of this study was to determine fatigue in adult drivers and in adults with mild cognitive impairment. Previous studies have demonstrated that driving while fatigued increases the chances of accidents on the road; they have also found that monotonous driving is one of the causes of this elevated fatigue. This study includes adults of various ages and adults with mild cognitive impairment, which is unprecedented because no prior study has investigated the behaviors of fatigued mild cognitive impairment drivers. Within this study, drivers participated in a 90 minute monotonous drive, while their speed and lane variability was monitored. This study, which is a secondary analysis of a larger study, narrows in on 10 minutes of the naturalistic drive to analyze these groups’ ability to stay focused on the road as they become fatigued.

Supriya Macha

Greenhills School, University of Michigan

In the field of material science, the self assembly of nanostructures and of nanoparticles provides a new approach to creating novel materials that exhibit emergent properties similar to that of biological molecular structures. The self assembly of nanoparticles utilizes specific intermolecular forces that act between these particles to force them assemble into different, non-random, energy favorable structures. Cadmium telluride nanoparticles have the ability to self-assemble into complex nanostructures under proper conditions and exhibit properties that are useful in innovative catalytic applications, biomedical applications, and more. This research was focused on simulating conditions that allow for the self assembly of cadmium telluride nanoparticles into spheres. This research investigated how cadmium ion concentration would affect the formation of these cadmium telluride assemblies by simulating the interactions in a 200 x 200 x 200 lattice of particles. The simulation of the self assembly of these nanoparticles used a modified Ising model and Boltzmann distribution programmed in Python, and was run on a supercomputer. The results showed that higher cadmium ion concentrations increased the number and decreased the size of the resulting assemblies. This method of modeling how nanoparticles form these non-random arrangements is promising for developing and understanding the complex interactions that allow this self-assembly to happen in a solution in the first place.

Thomas Zeng

Greenhills School, University of Michigan

A growing body of literature has documented that social relations are related to mental wellbeing and health. Currently, mental health issues continue to grow in the youth population. This study examines the role of aspects of social relations on mental wellbeing over time. Survey data comes from the Social Relations and Health over the Life Course study conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. Respondents aged 13-22 from Wave 1 were chosen in order to target the teenage and young adult population. The social relations measures of network size and average contact frequency (Wave 1) were compared to mental wellbeing measures of depressive symptoms and life satisfaction (Wave 2) using statistical analysis. This study aimed to examine connections between social relationships in adolescence and young adulthood to mental wellbeing in later life. The potential differences in the effect of social relations on mental wellbeing during later life between teenagers (aged 13-17) to young adults (18-22) were also examined. Results indicate that average contact frequency in younger age is related to depressive symptoms in later life. As these variables draw connections, future research should further examine possible associations between social relationships and mental wellbeing.

Vincent Hsu

Greenhills School