McNair Scholars Symposium

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  Fatima Gallardo Ibarra- 2023

  Fatima Gallardo Ibarra

  Missingness interferes with practitioners’ ability to accurately interpret the results of their studies. This is especially true in within-subjects designs as a study with a sufficiently large original sample size might net a much smaller set of complete cases once missingness is taken into account. Contemporary solutions to dealing with missingness, such as regression and multiple imputation, have focused on replacing missing values. Methods such as these that replace missing values rather than delete cases altogether preserve sample size, but they also require a level of sophistication that far exceeds what practitioners can reasonably be expected to have. Recent research has supported the use of between-subjects methods in within-subject scenarios as a means by which to manage missingness in a highly accessible manner. The present study builds on this earlier research by considering whether a new strategy, Optimal t, maintains statistical power in the face of missingness without artificially inflating alpha. Optimal t selects the better option between a paired samples and an independent samples t-test based on simulated trials. Initial research has supported the use of Optimal t, although there has been some concern about inflated Type I error rates (Sperling et al., 2023). In this study, a correction formula is introduced which adjusts p-values in proportion to sample size and compared the results against original Optimal t, paired samples t-test and independent samples t-test. Results suggest that original Optimal t outperforms all other options across conditions. Implications for practice and recommendations for further research are provided.

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  Jacob Rodriguez - 2023

  Jacob Rodriguez

  This research aims to provide analytical review that explains the history and prospects of the Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble with its repertoire, investigate the production, the recorded works, and composers for the Backburner Tuba-Euphonium Collective’s debut album: “A Little Monster Music,” while also discussing the biography and objective of the Backburner Tuba-Euphonium Collective. This paper includes the oral and written history behind the Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble and the Backburner Tuba-Euphonium Collective; this paper provides two oral interviews with two professional Tuba-Euphonium players, named Dr. Clayton Maddox and Dr. Matthew Mireles. In these interviews, both Dr. Maddox and Dr. Mireles share their biography while also reviewing the general condition of Tuba-Euphonium ensembles and their motivations for Backburner. The approach to researching this topic involved an examination of all the recorded works and composers for the repertoire of the Backburner Tuba-Euphonium Collective, and then it was also required to collect the biographical data behind Backburner. After collecting data, it was instructed to communicate an analysis of the recorded works that are in the Backburner’s debut album: “A Little Monster Music.” This interpretation is also referred to as creating “liner notes,” which essentially illustrate a listener’s perspective of the portrayal and pervading theme or character of the piece. The contention for the reader was to explain why documenting the history and momentum of Tuba-Euphonium Ensembles is crucial to the continuity and respect for the instruments, while also inspiring a consensus to understanding and listening to the recorded works for Tuba-Euphonium Ensembles and Backburner.

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  Jacob Silva - 2023

  Jacob Silva

  Depression and anxiety are major public health concerns as they affect over a million Americans every year and have numerous adverse outcomes. Research exploring the linkages between depression and anxiety with drug abuse has remained minimal. Results derive from the Nashville Stress and Health Study (n = 1,252), a study that ascertained the stress and health status of predominantly African Americans and White Americans from Davidson County. Results indicated a significant relationship between depression and violent crime (rape), as well as depression and drug abuse. Similarly, a significant relationship was identified between anxiety and violent crime (rape and physical assault), as well as anxiety and drug use. This study provides insight into the prevalence of drug abuse in relation to depression and anxiety that developed due to traumatic experiences via violent crime victimization.

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  Kai Solonka - 2023

  Kai Solonka

  “Neuropenitentiary” utilizes the naturalist-compatibilist interpretation of free will presented by Daniel C. Dennett in “Freedom Evolves” (2003) to argue for the brain’s tragically natural fallibility in preserving autonomous agency when afflicted with trauma (PTSD, developmental trauma, etc.). When juxtaposed with the naturalistic framework provided by Dennett, Bessel Van Der Kolk’s recent (2014) in-depth medical and academic accounts of trauma (whether in the context of PTSD, intergenerational trauma, or developmental trauma) elucidated in “The Body Keeps the Score” present necessary and sufficient conditions for the loss or obstruction of autonomous agency on a physiological level – in that humans’ evolutionarily developed sense of rationality, made possible by the neurophysiological functions of the brain in an attempt to maintain homeostasis through hormonal regulation and conceptual recollection, is jeopardized by the overwhelming stressors of a traumatic event. Finally, this paper ties these points together to elucidate the loss of individual autonomy at the hands of trauma itself and provides an explanation for free will as an evolutionary development, contingent upon the efficiency of neurophysiological function. As an example, “Neuropenitentiary” encourages the continued study of naturalistic free will for the advancement of its ancillary application to other similarly concerned interdisciplinary fields.

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  Kevin Trinh - 2023

  Kevin Trinh

  This paper presents a Python-based toolset for translating custom language code into assembly language for a virtual machine. The toolset includes a lexer module for tokenizing the code, a parser module for generating an abstract syntax tree (AST), and a compiler or semantic analyzer module for translating the AST into assembly language instructions. The research focuses on the design and implementation of these components, utilizing top-down recursive parsing. Extensive testing ensures accurate translation and execution of custom language code. The toolset's flexibility enables future enhancements and support for diverse virtual machine architectures. The results demonstrate successful translation, highlighting the power and versatility of the developed toolset. This research advances language processing and compiler design, facilitating the seamless execution of domain-specific languages on virtual hardware platforms.

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  Lonni Lee Garcia - 2023

  Lonni Lee Garcia

  Intimate partner violence is an ongoing public health issue and accounts for 15% of all violent crimes. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe intimate partner violence. This can lead to impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, use of victim services, and contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. Research exploring the linkages between religion and PTSD has received limited attention. Data comes from the Nashville Stress and Health Study (2011–2014), a cross-sectional probability survey of black and white adults from Davidson County, Tennessee (n = 1,252). Results indicate that those with a high belief in divine control are expected to increase individual’s PTSD score. This study provides a fresh perspective on the links between partner violence and PTSD by (a) considering multiple religious and divine control variables and (b) focusing on the association between divine control and PTSD.

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  Maria Chiara Cossio - 2023

  Maria Chiara Cossio

  When a neuron receives a stimulus it will become depolarized and reach a certain threshold producing an action potential, which will fire, sending the electrical signal down the axon. In order to analyze the behavior of these neural systems and how they can be affected based on their input current (I.C.), a model called Leaky Integrate-and-fire neuron (LIF) was used. In this simple mathematical model, a simulation was run where the neuron's threshold was set to 4mV, and a set of 7 input currents was established; (I.C.= 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7), each was measured with the same stimulus duration, 500msec. Two different stimuli were sent from the alpha synapses, first with a value of α=1 and the second of α=0.5 to the neuron, if an action potential is generated it will produce a peak above 4mv, which is counted and then divided by the time in milliseconds. The firing rate (F.R.) for the first stimulus was (F.R.=0, 0, 0.016, 0.024, 0.032, 0.04, 0.048) respectively, while the second one was (F.R.=0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.002, 0.006) respectively. Furthermore, the results from the experimental data collected and analyzed demonstrate a clear correlation between firing rate and input current. This suggests that the action potential occurs more frequently if there is a higher input current and higher alpha synapses.

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  Martina Flores Guillen - 2023

  Martina Flores Guillen

  Making a distinguishing line between individuals and how the law maintains it emphasizes a cognitive ideal of a preferable outcome in the Justice system. Polarizing appeals to the exterior and inner concept of the method that the Criminal System should genuinely implement. The primary idea that the Criminal Justice system in the U.S. targets it also depends on the location where offenses are committed and go based on the gender of the suspect. Earliest as the 1980s, it has been proven that the total average exonerating cases of individuals, most surrounding minority groups, that were wrongfully convicted under the U.S. judicial branch, 27,200+ of those cases were proven to have been misled. Addressing implementations of extraordinary progressive sentencing guidelines has depicted that more than half of the population cannot maintain blame for nonresponding policies that keep oppressing and neglecting both male and female groups. Utilizing sources of two distinct sides of the U.S. that depict relatively high or low rates from 1984 - 2023. A comparative response was obtained throughout Southern and Western sources' incarceration and prison population rates. The Southern side depicts an increase in incarceration and population even when utilizing sentencing guidelines under the SRA, deferring from the Western side of the U.S., depicting a lower incarceration and population outcome when following an SRA guideline across prison facilities. Men and women could be affected differently by the system under the SRA policies that depend on the location that the Sentencing Reform Act has had over the decades upon the system, which was inferred after obtaining the information.

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  Melanie Martinez - 2023

  Melanie Martinez

  The Hispanic-serving Institution (HSI) designation is a test of character. Colleges and universities in which 25 percent or more of the student body self-identifies as “Hispanic” can qualify as HSIs. If a sufficient percentage are low-income, and if the institution has low core expenditures, it is also eligible to receive Title V funding. Remarkably, there are no mechanisms in place to ensure that Title V money is used to narrow gaps in the school’s opportunity and reward structures. The vacuous, undefined space that characterizes Title V functions as something of a projective test that reveals each HSI’s true values and assumptions about what counts as fairness and equity. Institutions that genuinely care about Latinx students intentionally center them in their grant applications; others assume that helping all students means helping at least some who identify as Latinx. This paper discusses the on-going failure of the US Department of Education to hold HSIs accountable for spending Title V funds in ways that are beneficial to Latinx students. In so doing, it critiques the neo-liberal metrics by which HSIs are judged and recommends new methods of assessing the impact of the designation and the use of Title V funds. It concludes by arguing that lessons learned from the vast literature on culturally responsive evaluation and assessment (CREA; Hood et. al., 2015) can be used to guide strategic planning in ways that shift power into the hands of the students whose identities made the funds possible.

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  Zoe Parra - 2023

  Zoe Parra

  During the Covid-19 pandemic, access to movie theaters was restricted, and online streaming became the primary way for movie consumption in the US. Moreover, the audience’s mentality was seriously influenced by the drastic changes in their daily life. However, the impact of these changes on the audience’s preferences for movies is underexplored. This study utilizes content analysis, a hybrid deductive and inductive coding approach to identify relationships between plot and genre in the highest-grossing films between the years 2017 - 2022. This study builds upon the idea that every story is told using one of the seven basic plots and genres as a means of classification for this set of films. By utilizing the seven basic plots, genre categorization, and the official descriptions released with each film this study investigates how the audience’s preferences were affected by the 2020 covid-19 global pandemic. The results show notable changes in the types of films that were most consumed such as an increase in comedy and horror genre movies along with an increase in comedy and overcoming the monster storytelling plots.