Livingstone Undergraduate Research Awards: Recent submissions
Now showing items 21-40 of 81
-
Material Layering for Impact Mitigation in Football HelmetsThis proposal includes an analysis of three methods of material layering for impact mitigation in football helmets: a system that tunes pressure waves to a damping frequency of a viscoelastic layer, a four-layered system equipped with a soft external shell that can bend and compress with rotational and linear impacts, and a system that makes use of an open-cell foam impregnated with a non-Newtonian fluid. The methods were chosen because of their shared focus on dissipating the pressure and impulse of a collision, and this serves as the primary basis of comparison. Additionally, this proposal will thoroughly analyze the material selection and function of each layer within the helmet as a whole for each solution. After being compared on the basis of several criteria, the design of the Vicis ZERO1 is proposed as the most effective means of material layering for impact mitigation in a football helmet. While a focus on selecting a helmet with a focus on impact mitigation will not eliminate the risk of concussion, it will certainly help to reduce it.
-
Monumental ChangeMonumental Change tells the story of Monument Cemetery, a prominent cemetery in the heart of North Philadelphia that was destroyed in the 1950s, where traces of its past can still be found throughout the city. With the cemetery as a backdrop, the film explores North Philadelphia’s history of expansion, gentrification, and how the removal of the dead in the 1950s echoes the removal of the living today.
-
Using Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Mechanisms to Improve Eye Moisture Over Extended Periods of Contact Lens WearMillions of people around the world suffer from dry eye symptoms as a result of extended contact lens wear. The objective of this design document is to engineer a solution for chronic dry eyes. The solution must be safe, effective, easy to use, and affordable. The goal of the treatment is to decrease tear film osmolarity by 20 mOsmol/L. Three types of nanotechnologies were considered for this task. The candidate solutions were 1) hydrogel contact lenses infused with lubricant-loaded liposomes, 2) lubricantloaded microemulsions applied as eye drops, and 3) lubricant-loaded niosomes applied as eye drops. All solutions use polyethylene glycol 400 as the primary active ingredient in the lubricant. The three solutions provide a safe treatment option that allows increased bioavailability of drug and increased retention time, as well as controlled release of drug. A combination of candidates 1 and 3 – namely, hydrogel contact lenses infused with lubricant-loaded niosomes – seems to be the best solution because of excellent drug delivery kinetics and minimal safety concerns. The success of this project would encourage further research in niosome-based and contact lens-based drug delivery. It would also allow this company to expand research and development and further specialize in ocular drug delivery.
-
The Immigrant Parent Disadvantage: Parent Linguistic Capital and Student School PerformanceResearchers, teachers and policy makers continue to wrestle with understanding why children of immigrants perform more poorly in school than their counterparts with native born parents. While parental involvement through checking of homework and participation in school events have been identified as relevant factors, the findings of research are not conclusive. This study re-examines the relationships of these two factors with school performance among the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants by introducing a third variable: parental English proficiency. The results reveal that after controlling for parental English proficiency, homework checking no longer has a significant impact and the effect of parental school involvement is reduced; English language abilities of parents, on the other hand, have a significant effect on student performance. This finding suggests that improving parental English proficiency and cultural awareness can produce a positive impact on the school performance of the children of non-native English speaking parents.
-
Choosing Permeable Pavement Design to Maximize Stormwater Management CapabilitiesThe goal of this project proposal is to compare current permeable pavement designs, and suggest the best design to limit pollution due to stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces. Permeable pavements are pavements with increased pore space for water to pass through. There are three considered pavement types: porous asphalt, porous concrete, and permeable interlocking concrete pavers. The specific focus is to analyze the impact of material choice on the success of the pavement. The first priority is optimizing permeability by comparing hydrological properties of each pavement design including porosity, flow rate, and hydraulic conductivity. Other parameters investigated affect feasibility of the design such as compressive strength, cost, storage capacity, and reparability. The assessment is based on the results of research studies and recommendations in construction manuals. The best pavement design utilizes porous concrete. Porous concrete has higher permeability, the main requirement for success in limiting runoff. Porous concrete also boasts reasonable cost, structural integrity, and reparability. A successful porous concrete pavement would lead to improved water quality in streams, decreased erosion of stream banks, and a decreased need for additional costly wastewater management structures. Most importantly, success would lead to long term cost benefits and public and environmental health improvements.
-
Gender Quotas as Strategy: Exploring the Relationship Among International Perceptions of Democracy, Transnational Influence, and Female Representation in Sub-Saharan AfricaDo countries that adopt parliamentary gender quotas do so as strategy in response to global pressure to improve the international perception of their democratic progress? Rwanda’s 2000 constitution called for a quota, and since then there has been a trend across Sub-Saharan Africa to “fast-track” women’s legislative representation. There has been a significant amount of literature on the use of quotas as signaling devices by autocratic regimes to indicate democratic progress. I argue that there is a gap in the scholarship on whether or not strategic gender quotas are efficient tools in achieving the regime’s intentions of appearing more democratic by the international community. I explore this relationship through both a case study of Rwanda as an extreme sample case, and descriptive analyses of certain data across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Freedom House Freedom Scores. Using statistical test methods and comparing sample groups of countries that have and have not adopted quotas, I find evidence to substantiate prevailing theories of signaling. Countries that adopted quotas had higher percentages of women in parliament, ranked higher for female representation, and saw their Freedom Scores improve more over time, compared to the countries that did not have quotas. Further findings are assessed.
-
Using Green Infrastructure to Minimize Combined Sewer OverflowsThis project addresses the problems posed by combined sewer systems in high-density urban environments, and aims to minimize combined sewer overflows through an innovative green infrastructure solution. In order to identify the best solution, bioretention basins, green roofs, and permeable pavement were analyzed according to the following criteria: runoff volume reduction, peak flowrate reduction, pollutant treatment rates, greenhouse gas emissions contribution, cost effectiveness, and implementation feasibility. Bioretention basins were found to perform best in almost all criteria considered. Thus, implementation of bioretention basins is the proposed solution. Bioretention has significant potential in cost savings, as well as positive impact on the local economy, and environmental and social benefits.
-
(Z)-Selective Isomerization of Terminal Alkenes using an air-stable Mo(0) ComplexTerminal olefin isomerization with transition metal catalysts has emerged in the past decade as a useful means of generating regio- and stereo-selective internal alkenes. In this work, an array of previously characterized and uncharacterized molybdenum(0) phosphine complexes were synthesized and tested by their ability to catalyze olefin isomerization for a variety of reagents. When coupled with co-catalytic acid (TsOH), these catalysts—specifically the cis-Mo(CO)4(PPh3)2 complex—generally produced an excess of the higher energy (Z)-2-alkene isomer from terminal olefin substrates with state-of-the-art selectivity. Importantly, the Mo(0) complexes examined herein are air-stable, simple to produce and isolate, and demonstrate activity with low catalytic loading (0.5%) and under mild conditions (66 °C in THF). This practicality may extend their use to the organic synthesis of fine chemicals without the generation of significant reagent or solvent waste. Furthermore, the activity and unique selectivity observed with these catalysts should encourage further inquiry into other molybdenum-mediated reactions involving olefins.
-
K-pop Subculture International ImpactThe overall purpose of this study was to gain a more in depth understanding of the conditions in which k-pop spread internationally. We initially knew that k-pop was an extremely popular sensation in Asian countries, specifically because it originated in South Korea. Interestingly, research on the methods in which k-pop spread globally provided information on the Korean Wave. The problems we researched focused on the specific ways and influences that k-pop had on countries. Instead of only focusing on South Korea and its neighboring Asian countries, we broadened our search globally. Some major findings we encountered were discovering how k-pop transformed into a worldwide phenomenon. As aforementioned, the Korean Wave was behind this transformation. Including k-pop, the Korean Wave spread k-media in general. In addition, learning about the culture behind k-pop and the realization that it was unique but also like other cultures in some ways. Particularly, the ways that k-pop fans socialize and gather in conventions, like anime. In addition, fans interact similarly, whether based in Korea or elsewhere.
-
Retrospective Falsification – Run Away to SwedenThe intent of this project is to explore how bookbinding can be used as a medium for narrating historical fiction. Through researching the cultural landscape of World War II, I've created a series of artificial artifacts that can blend into the historical narrative to offer commentary and satire on significant events. Some of the major themes of this project include: how traumatic events influence print culture, how presentation can alter the context of historical texts, and how in the digital age books are changing from literary vessels into archaeological objects.
-
This Side of Main StreetThere is a dream of a golden age of wholesomeness, prosperity, and peace portrayed in the paintings of pre-‐WWII illustrators like Norman Rockwell and Jessie Wilcox Smith. These turn-‐of-‐the-‐century artists created the world of Americana and provided the imagery that would become a worshiped mythology for future generations. This Side of Main Street explores this highly idealized era through painting and sculpture, while attempting to expose the realities of life, and understand Americans’ obsession with the past and our penchant for selective memory.
-
Cultural property repatriation: history, legality, and ethical precedents for museums in the United StatesCultural property repatriation has emerged as a controversial topic of international diplomacy. Countries that were subject to archaeological desecration are now reclaiming illicitly exported artifacts from foreign museums. Because museums in the United States operate as private institutions, enforcing uniform legal standards is challenging. This paper theorizes a legislative model that would regulate the acquisition and repatriation policies of federally-funded museums. This proposal is developed through analyzing the efficacy of existing laws designed to regulate the illicit antiquities market, as well as through evaluating the federal government’s response to the repatriation movements for Native American cultural property and Holocaust-era artwork.
