Summer Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Grant Report 2020

Summer 2020 OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA

Summer Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) GRANT REPORT 2020

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OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Kay Chen Department: Communication Disorders and Sciences Title: Investigating a New Technology for Monitoring Brain Activities of AAC Users: fNIBS Goals: Current Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) studies have not been successful in monitoring the brain activities of AAC users. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive optical imaging technique that measures changes in brain activities during motions. Therefore, it may be a solution for monitoring AAC users’ brain activities when they operate their devices. Although electroencephalogram (EEG) has been used commonly in communication disorders studies, EEG is passive and very sensitive to motion and environmental noises. However, AAC users need to operate their devices to communicate, which makes EEG not an ideal technology to use with the population.

EEG sensor. They also completed basic training including a literature review and equipment usage.

The team designed two experiments to test the feasibility of the data collection method. Thus far, the team completed the first two trials and identified the limitations of current designs for future improvement.

The purpose of Dr. Chen’s project was to investigate the feasibility of using an affordable fNIRS sensor to monitor brain activity while operating an AAC device and compare to the results of using an EEG sensor.

Narrative summary: Dr. Chen, along with four Communication Disorders and Sciences (CDS) undergraduate students, set up both the fNIRS sensor and the

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OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Michael Dunham Department: Physics Title: Quantitative Calibration of the Fredonia Observatory Goals: The Fredonia Observatory is currently used for community outreach through the hosting of public observing nights (on hiatus due to the pandemic), where members of the campus and surrounding communities are invited to look through the telescope and learn about the night sky. The observatory can also be used for both education and research. In order to realize this full potential, the telescope and camera system must be fully calibrated.

During previous summers, Fredonia students have explored the calibration properties of the camera system, demonstrating that it is remarkably uniform in its response to light. Small pixel-to-pixel variations can be corrected, and previous student work has found that the corrections are stable over time periods of weeks to months, implying that calibration images do not need to be obtained every night the telescope is used. During the summer of 2020, funding was requested for one student to continue the calibration work by exploring the linearity of the camera. In particular, Dr. Dunham’s goal was to measure whether or not two times brighter light indeed produced two times higher signal and, if not, to develop linearity correction factors that can be applied to scientific imaging data obtained at the Fredonia Observatory.

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Narrative summary: By using an artificial light source with a constant brightness (a lamp projected on the dome wall), sequences of images with increasing exposure times were taken over the course of several different nights. For each sequence, the increasing response of the camera was compared to the increasing exposure time. If the camera responses were perfectly linear, each time the exposure time increased by another factor of two, the response should have also increased by a factor of two.

Building off preliminary analyses from previous summers, a Fredonia student was funded during the summer of 2020 to complete the analysis of this data. This student's work demonstrated that the camera response is remarkably linear over a large fraction of its full dynamic range, but that small corrections can improve the linearity of the camera. This student quantified the exact nature of these corrections and wrote a computer program that can be used to correct all future images obtained at the Fredonia Observatory.

OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

College of Visual and Performing Arts

Dr. Natasha Farny Department: Music Title: Recording Works by Women Composers Goals: Dr. Farny’s goal was to record seven works by women composers for cello and piano, which would result in a professional CD. Her umbrella project, called "Women's Voices," includes lectures, papers, online presentations, live concerts, this CD, and a future multimedia presentation. This collection of materials aims to promote the study of music by women. The playing portions of this project were accomplished with her Ekstasis Duo partner, Eliran Avni.

They wondered many times if it was ridiculous to even attempt making a recording with so many unknowns. However, they were finally able to schedule sessions in early August, and the result was fantastic. They now have live, unedited video tracks which they can share with concert presenters who have changed their live concert series into digital series. The group’s audio tracks are in the editing stages and will be polished and mastered in the next few months. When the CD is finished, they will be able to promote their music to their listeners.

Narrative summary: Dr. Farny, along with Eliran Avni, planned to record music by women composers immediately a er performing several concerts in the spring of 2020.

However, the pandemic resulted in many cancellations along with postponements of their recording sessions. The group "rehearsed" in a very different way; each week, they met online and discussed their phrasing, balance, cueing, and other musical issues, bar by bar. They also learned new repertoire and sent each other videos of their playing, trying to learn the whole piece by matching their parts to each other’s videos.

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OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

RSCA GRANT REPORT 2019

Liberal Arts and Sciences

Scott Ferguson Department: Biology Title: Study of Transforming Growth Factor Alpha Goals: Transforming Growth Factor alpha (TGF-a) is a key signaling molecule in all animals, including humans. It performs its function by binding to the surface of cells, which drives proliferation and changes in gene expression. Dr. Ferguson’s lab studied this process using the fruit fly as a model for the general regulatory mechanisms shared by all animals. The humble fruit fly has been used by geneticists for over 100 years due to its rapid reproduction and the capacity to perform sophisticated genetic manipulations.

These suppressor mutations were made randomly using a mutagen and were spread across 180 million potential sites in the genome. With the help of Lily Markley, a thesis Master’s student, Dr. Ferguson identified one of these suppressors as a gene called Barentsz. Because this mutation freezes the motion of some mRNAs in the cell, it was named a er Willem Barentsz, a seventeenth century explorer whose boat became frozen in the ice in an attempt to find a passage past the North Pole. Dr. Ferguson aspires to understand how mutations in this gene affect Gurken translation.

Narrative summary: Gurken (TGF-a in flies) is the first signal that establishes the asymmetry of the body plan of the egg, even prior fertilization by a sperm. As with all proteins, the production of Gurken requires that the gene first be transcribed from DNA into mRNA. This mRNA is then translated into protein by the ribosome. The exquisite regulatory control of Gurken translation was the focus of Dr. Ferguson’s study. Mutations in the spindle-B gene block the translation of Gurken. However, the mechanism of this block is not fully understood. To understand this effect, second-site mutations known as suppressors were generated, overriding the translation blockade caused by spindle-B.

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OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Jessica Finkeldey Department: Sociocultural and Justice Studies Title: Add Health Research Proposal Goals: The goal of this project was to prepare an external grant proposal to support a substantial research project that will merge data to The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Add Health surveyed a nationally representative group of over 90,000 adolescent students during 1994-95. Over 20,000 adolescents then participated in the first wave of in-home interviews (Wave I). Add Health has since conducted four more in-home interviews with the initial sample (in 1996, 2001-02, 2007-08, and 2016-18). Add Health has some community contextual data available based on respondents’ residential addresses. However, there are few community contextual variables that reflect characteristics of the criminal justice system (CJS).

In order to add supplemental CJS data to the Add Health dataset, Dr. Finkeldey planned to submit a proposal to Add Health for approval to complete an ancillary study. This project would contribute to Dr. Finkeldey's current and long-term research objectives by enabling her to examine whether experiencing parental incarceration or being arrested, convicted, incarcerated, etc. is associated with different outcomes depending on the context in which it occurs.

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Narrative summary: Dr. Finkeldey hired and mentored an undergraduate research assistant for a total of 75 hours of work. She was able to work closely with this student to gather and summarize existing literature on how the collateral consequences of contact with the criminal justice system vary by the context of the system. Dr. Finkeldey was also able to identify potential sources of secondary data for the ancillary study (e.g., datasets that contain county and state level incarceration rates, state level corrections expenditures, state level court data, and state level felon disenfranchisement).

Moreover, Dr. Finkeldey was able to dedicate time to preparing the proposal to submit to Add Health for approval to complete an ancillary study.

OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Matthew Fountain Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry Title: Identification of RNA structural motifs in COVID-19 Goals: Most coronaviruses cause only mild respiratory tract illness and discomfort with very low rates of mortality. However three coronaviruses, MERS, SARS-COV, and SARS-COV2 (COVID-19), have resulted in widespread illness and death. In particular, COVID-19 resulted in a worldwide pandemic, leaving more than 81 million infected and 1.65 million dead worldwide in only 12 months. During this time period, several vaccines and a drug that targets the RNA dependent RNA polymerase have been developed to combat the virus. The aim of Dr. Fountain’s research was to identify and determine RNA structural motifs that could be used as targets for therapeutic agents.

The research involved understanding how the RNA sequence folds into its secondary and three-dimensional structure. From these structures, researchers can eventually identify small molecules that can interrupt their formation and inhibit viral replication and the translation of its genomic RNA. Narrative summary: For this project, the sequence of the COVID-19 genome was downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The terminal 3’ and 5’ untranslated regions (UTR) were analyzed using RNAstructure so ware that predicts the optimal

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secondary structure motifs based on Watson Crick base pairing and thermodynamic stability of adjacent base pairs. These computational folding studies of the 3’ and 5’ UTR RNA revealed over 20 possible folding patterns. A number of these folded RNAs have regions with similar secondary structures containing hairpins with internal loops.

The next step was to verify that these conserved secondary structure motifs actually exist using biochemical mapping of the RNA. Dr. Fountain used a mapping process called Selective 2′ Hydroxyl Acylation analyzed by Primer Extension (SHAPE), which identifies regions of the RNA sequence that are not Watson-Crick base paired such as hairpin loops and internal loops.

Dr. Fountain successfully constructed DNA plasmids containing a T7 promoter from which he synthesized the 3’ and 5’ UTR RNA regions. He optimized RNA synthesis and now has sufficient quantities to begin SHAPE experiments. The secondary structure determination using SHAPE has begun for the 3’ UTR. Once completed, it will be compared to the computer generated secondary structures. This will be followed by structural studies of conserved RNA hairpins and internal loops involved with replication and the initiation of translation.

OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

College of Visual and Performing Arts

Mr. Phillip Hastings Department: Visual Arts and New Media needed breathing room to let the creative process develop more fully over time.

Title: Telephone Goals: Mr. Hastings’ main goal was to create a short narrative film exploring the shared experiences of a global pandemic. He was particularly interested in delving into the creative process of set design as character, and production design as metaphor. A challenge that he set for himself was to create the project on his own, performing all aspects of the endeavor and forgoing the traditional expectation of how a narrative film is created. He also wanted to document this process through an online blog to allow for a dialogue to take place about the creative process and connecting the isolation experienced by many artists and its relationship to the isolation experienced during the pandemic.

Narrative summary: Telephone is an experimental narrative film addressing shared experiences during the current global pandemic. Isolation and interconnectedness are themes that anchor Telephone in the present, while concepts of confession and regret, desire and disdain resonate as universal truths in any time. As the project progressed, it became clear that what was originally intended as a short film would benefit from expanding on the initial ideas to the realization of a feature length film. This increasing scope of the project gave Mr. Hastings personal license to slow down and become more methodical in his process. It provided much

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Still image from Telephone

Mr. Hastings converted an empty space in his basement to a fully constructed set, transforming the original space to create a new environment to shoot the film in. This was a slow process, one that has taken more time than he had expected. The set is not completed yet and the work continues, but he has progressed greatly in its execution and his own learning, adding new skills that he will continue to use in this and future projects as well as in his teaching.

OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

Mr. Phillip Hastings continued Title: Telephone

Still image from Telephone

The project is ongoing with much progress being made in realizing the set for the film. However, an additional positive outcome from this project was a new connectedness that Mr. Hastings found among those that are following the progress of the project. He continues to share this progress on his website (www.philhastings.com) and has found that sharing his thoughts through this public forum has allowed him to reach others that have a shared experience. This has resulted in conversations about what it means to be an artist, how artists engage their audiences, and losing one’s creative drive and how to find it again.

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OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

School of Business

Dr. Lisa Walters Department: English Title: Examining the Impact of COVID-19 on Accounting Firms Goals: Dr. Walters planned to gather survey responses from decision makers within accounting firms in Pennsylvania and Western New York on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their operations. A historical comparison of the accounting industry’s experience and their response to previous incidents (e.g. natural disasters, extreme weather, terrorism, cybersecurity) would be discussed. Dr. Walters aimed to discover how prepared firms were before, how they reacted during, and what they might change permanently now that they’ve experienced a pandemic. Recommendations were made to assist accounting practices in developing continuity plans to better prepare for similar situations.

Narrative summary: Dr. Walters executed her study throughout the summer and early fall of 2020. She submitted a presentation of her research to the National Association of Business, Economics, and Technology (NABET), where it was accepted and presented in October of 2020. A er the presentation, she further analyzed the data and finalized a paper for publication submission. The resulting paper, entitled "Ready or Not, It Will Come: Preparing Accountancy for the Next Disruption" was submitted to the Academy of Business Journal (ABJ), a publication of the Academy of Business Research, in late February, 2021. The ABJ is publishing two special editions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on business practices, and she hopes to be part of one of those editions. Dr. Walters is awaiting a decision regarding publication.

Since accounting services are considered essential services during the pandemic, the specific State and local mandates and restrictions placed on business operation, staffing, and essential services have a marked impact on an industry in its busiest time of year. Dr. Walters hoped to gain a representative sample of responses from small, medium and large accounting firms and interview some key decision makers to augment her results.

She envisioned compiling firm checklists: policies and procedures that should be considered for future disruption.

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OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020

Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Junaid Zubairi Department: Computer and Information Sciences Goals: Dr. Zubairi has worked to explore indoor localization techniques and their applications in disaster management and recovery with emphasis on multi-storey buildings. Such buildings may have partially collapsed, and it is of utmost importance to determine the number and approximate location of victims. It is assumed that the majority of people would carry a portable electronic device such as a mobile phone. Dr. Zubairi designed a complete algorithm (MLOCATE) to enumerate the people inside and to map their approximate locations. Rescue teams would deploy a radio signal receiver and meter that can measure the power and intensity of radio signals emitted by the mobile phones of victims. This provides the approximate distance of the victims from the signal receiver. Dr. Zubairi’s goal was to implement MLOCATE using actual signal meters instead of simulated random distances. He selected Maytum Hall and Hamburg High School as example buildings to map rescue paths in a simulated disaster.

Narrative summary: Dr. Zubairi assumed that the vast majority of the victims that carry cell phones are connected to the CSP network on a 4G LTE network. Besides cellular links, the second most common links are with a building’s WiFi router. If the building has partially collapsed, the WiFi signals may or may not be available. Therefore, Dr. Zubairi considered the

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802.11 signals as secondary for the purposes of rescue. Rescue teams need to determine the location of victims and take them to the triage unit where they can receive medical attention. The rescue unit may send teams to the highest priority floors that have been identified by the MLOCATE algorithm in order to expedite the rescue process.

If some of the floors or stairs are partially or fully blocked, the teams may have to use alternate paths.

The development of the MLOCATE algorithm has been completed. Dr. Zubairi found that his research group lacked the sophisticated spectrum analyzer which could give them accurate measures of signal strength. Such equipment is prohibitively expensive. In the absence of a powerful spectrum analyzer, they completed the development and testing of the MLOCATE algorithm using simulation. A program was written in Python to simulate the clustering of victims at anchor points and generation of rescue paths with priorities.

While they used Maytum Hall as an example building, Hamburg High School lacked multiple floors and, therefore, was not used in the simulation. The group ran multiple simulation sessions and obtained very useful results. Dr. Zubairi will submit an article to a professional journal reporting their results.

OFFICE OF THE PROVOST | STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT FREDONIA | RSCA GRANT REPORT 2020