2022 Undergraduate Exhibition

This novel quantitative field study assessed how spectators’ positioning in a theater and their empathic tendencies affect their emotional responses to theatre. Self-report data from 160 audience members at performances of an original play revealed the first known empirical support for the role of empathy in theatrical spectating, highlighted the importance of personally identifying with content in experiencing a strong emotional response, and offered a model for further exploration of the impact of physical distance.

We examined friendships' impact on romantic relationships, especially for women. The central hypothesis is that healthy same-gender friendships for women are more positively influential towards romantic relationships than differing-gender friendships and than both types of friendships for men. We considered the involvement, duration, and value of the friendships as well as the duration and quality of the participants' romantic relationships.

In microbiome research, universal PCR primers amplify specific 16S rRNA gene regions prior to sequencing for taxonomic relative abundance quantification. Here, we assess whether sequencing of PCR duplicates biases quantification results by incorporating Unique Molecular Identifiers (UMI) into our library preparation protocol across a range of conditions including PCR starting amount, cycles, UMI lengths, and in triplicate vs. combined. Our results will inform whether UMIs should be incorporated into standard 16S protocols across the field.

Promoter-proximal pausing of RNA Polymerase II (PolII) is a widespread transcriptional regulatory mechanism. DSIF and NELF contribute to pausing by binding to PolII, and DSIF recruits NELF to PolII. To understand how DSIF recruits NELF, I generated DSIF mutants based on structural data and tested these mutants’ ability to bind NELF. The KOW2-3 domain of DSIF is important in NELF recruitment. This study provides mechanistic insight into regulation of promoter-proximal pausing by transcription factors. 

Various health behaviors have been shown to influence productivity. The purpose of this study was to investigate what health behaviors predicted productivity amongst diverse students. Students self-reported demographics, physical activity, sleep, alcohol consumption, and academic productivity. Linear regression models were utilized to identify significant predictors of productivity. Results suggested that various health behaviors significantly (p<0.05) predicted academic productivity differently among demographics. University health behavior interventions should be tailored towards specific demographics populations.

Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects autonomic nervous system activity and has been linked to human performance under stress. Few studies have examined HRV and performance in virtual reality (VR), which simulates naturalistic stress conditions. In the current study, HRV and performance were measured in a VR shooting task under low and high stress. Results indicate correlations between HRV and shooting false alarm rates that are consistent with prior studies and neurocognitive theories of HRV.

In previous work with English monolinguals, participants learned one artificial language and then learned a second language with a shifted boundary. Results showed that L1 representation presented more like L2 after learning. The current project instead works with English-Polish bilinguals to investigate the extent to which the bilingual experience modulates representational effects. We measure the bilingual participants’ experiences within each of their languages before then measuring the direction of representational change on the category boundaries.

Nanotechnology allows us to build powerful and smaller electronics, helps develop energy sources, solar panels, and catalysts. Graphene is composed of one layer of honeycomb-like Carbon atoms. It has electronic properties and can transport charges without resistance. We focused on theoretical/computational analysis of metal clusters on nanographene. Calculations were performed to study the physical/chemical properties of metal on nanographene using the supercomputer in University Park. This analysis focuses on energy, optical/magnetic properties, and chemical properties.

This research investigates toolmark characteristics of window screens that have been cut with knives or other common household method of cutting. The significance of this research includes the attempt to discover if there is potential for one-way or two-way toolmark transfer depending on the materials of the knives and screens, as well as if association is possible. 

B. subtilis has many rescue pathways essential to the microorganism. The bacterial ribosome rescue family RQC pathway was originally discovered in B. subtilis as an alternative rescue pathway and involves one of the rescue factors RqcH, it acts on non-stop codons stalling protein synthesis in the presence of chemical cellular damage. Understanding the phenotypes for alternative rescue factors in bacteria will uncover ways to treat bacterial infections and reduce the prevalence of bacterial resistance.  

Microtubule organization is crucial to neuronal growth and neurodegenerative disease development since microtubules are structurally important in neurons. The mechanisms involved in localizing essential organization proteins to microtubule generation sites are unclear and warrant investigation. We hypothesize that clathrin-mediated endocytosis internalizes signaling receptors to form the endosomes that recruit localization machinery. Key experiments include characterizing neuronal clathrin behavior at baseline and after axon injury and determining the impact of endocytosis inhibition on organizational protein levels.

Increased expression of the CD36 scavenger receptor has been correlated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients, but the role of CD36 in cancer progression is not well understood. Using a doxycycline-inducible overexpression system, we find that CD36 promotes breast cancer cell migration and hallmarks of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), which could enhance cancer metastasis. These findings suggest that CD36 overexpression enhances aggressive cancer cell features and could contribute to metastasis.

Neurons, which transmit signals throughout the body, can be injured in many ways, and must regenerate after injury. Using a deficiency screen in drosophila, we have identified two lines: one causes decreased regeneration after injury, and the other shows abnormal dendrite morphology before injury. Experiments revealed that the protein skeletor functions in dendrite regeneration. The system of injury that has been used is inefficient, so we also propose a new injury method for the dendrites.

Within a supply chain, it is important to understand the vulnerabilities of a vendor. Open-source intelligence (OSINT), or publicly available information, was used to evaluate the suppliers of a defense contractor for weaknesses in security and create a cyber hygiene score. By developing a cyber hygiene score based on the results of OSINT searches, companies are able to better evaluate the security of their distributors and decrease the chance of a supply chain attack. 

Prior research on the influence of affective factors and comprehensibility on in-person L2 interactions found that people’s ratings of their partner’s comprehensibility is influenced by their own anxiety and collaboration levels, as well as by their perception of their partner’s anxiety and collaboration. We conducted an exploratory study of L1/L2 English/German virtual interactions that supported these findings in the context of a virtual platform, indicating the pedagogical viability of virtual L1/L2 interactions.

Salmonella Heidelberg and Dublin isolates in the Penn State Animal Diagnostic Laboratory Culture Repository were selected and subjected to whole-genome sequence analysis to reveal the unique and shared antimicrobial resistance genes and mobile genetic elements in Heidelberg and Dublin isolates from veal calf operations. Based on the observations, it can be speculated that sharing the same environment could facilitate sharing of plasmids that assist in the dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant genes.