Greater focus on sustainability across numerous industries has led to an uptick in the demand for increasingly environmentally-friendly materials. Biochar, a material that is created from biomass that has undergone pyrolysis, has recently come into the arena. The benefits of this material include inputs easily found in nature (ie. pine wood), high biodegradability, and high relative strength. Previous literature has not investigated the effects of including blend of biochar with slanted interfaces, which is the focus of this research. When combined with epoxy resin, it was hypothesized that this composite would create a stronger, more natural material than either material by itself. Through the use of ABAQUS, a finite element analysis software, representative volume elements (RVEs) were created in order to test several configurations, load magnitudes & types, variations of biochar, and mass percentages to determine the most stress-resistant material. […]

In today’s world, the rate of urbanization is increasingly getting faster and faster. Large cities that are heavily populated produce noise that is not only harmful to one’s hearing, but also for concentration and productivity. If constantly exposed to an environment such as the ones existing in heavily populated cities, long-term effects will take place in the health of citizens such as damage to the cochlea membrane, increased progression of hearing loss, and long-term nerve damage within the ear canal. Furthermore, there is an average of 292.4 million tons of waste being produced on average since the year 2018. […]

Increases in the world’s population and subsequent urbanization has driven consumption levels of building materials higher. In order to meet this need, and maintain the sustainability of resources, novel, ecofriendly insulation materials must be developed. These types of insulation materials should possess excellent thermal, acoustic and electrical insulating properties. In this study, four bio-based mycelium-substrate composites were developed by creating combinations of two mushroom species (T. versicolor and P. ostreatus) and two different growth substrates derived from waste stream sources (paper and bagasse). […]

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal cell cancer characterized by excessive cell division of plasma cells in the bone marrow, which then produce abnormal antibodies that lead to end organ damage. The worldwide incidence of MM amounted to 160,000 cases in 2018 and 106,000 patients have succumbed to the disease. Currently, the lack of specific treatment, and use of only generic proteasome inhibitors, contribute to high mortality rates. By identifying differentially expressed genes found in malignant plasma cells, scientists can develop new and stronger therapies tailored to driver genes. This study takes a machine learning approach to identify driver genes of MM. […]

There exists a great demand to utilize renewable energy sources instead of burning fossil fuels. Currently, power conversion efficiency of domestic solar cells is 23.6%, and further improvements are necessary. Furthermore, real-world domestic solar panels show an efficiency of just about 15 percent. Combining piezoelectric strips (harnessing vibrational energy) and solar cells can potentially enhance power generation and efficiency. […]

The effect of Astragalus membranaceus on Caenorhabditis elegans was assessed in this experiment. Parkinson’s Disease directly causes dopamine depletion and other related symptoms. Astragalus contains complex carbohydrates linked to dopamine neuron protection, which could be used to treat Parkinson’s. In this experiment, C.elegans inflicted with Parkinson’s were treated with different concentrations of Astragalus. C.elegans are free-living nematodes that can be genetically engineered to model or stimulate various diseases caused by genetics, Parkinson’s being one of them. […]

The purpose of this experiment was to test the effectiveness of the sodium bicarbonate buffer in decreasing the pH of carbonated water when used to grow kale hydroponically. The results of our previous experiment showed that 75% carbonated water was most effective for kale growth. This might have been because of the acidity of the carbonated water, which is why a buffer was used to stabilize the pH and further enhance the growth of kale. Previous research shows that bicarbonate plays an important role in pH and stabilization of plants. Sodium bicarbonate also promotes the intake of carbon dioxide and other carbons, which is beneficial to plants. In this experiment, there were 6 groups, 3 of which received the buffer with 0%, 75%, and 100% concentration carbonated water and the other 3 that received no buffer with 0%, 75%, and 100% concentration carbonated water. […]