STUDENT: Kaylee Salony

PROJECT ADVISOR: Meg Hatch

ABSTRACT

Prions are a type of misfolded protein that cause fatal neurological diseases in mammals [1]. Illnesses caused by prions include Chronic-Wasting Disease in bovids and cervids, Bovine-Spongiform Encephalopathy in cows (Bos taraus), and Kuru in humans (Homo sapiens) [1]. These diseases occur when the normal prion protein (PrPC) misfolds and turns into a more dangerous version such as PrPTSE [2]. Animals risk getting infected with these proteins with direct contact, along with indirect contact such as an encounter of blood, urine, feces or saliva of another infected animal [2]. The main issue is that Prions move from species to species, infecting, and eventually killing every susceptible animal who has encountered them [1]. If a mammal does meet another infected animal, research articles report that they may experience damage to the neural tissues, sensitivity to stimuli, and a spongey appearance of the neural tissue[2]. This review focuses on the way prions move throughout the environment, and their effects. Research articles report that prions are found in many places such as the soil, wastewater and landfills. There is evidence that prions can stay dormant in the environment for years [2]. Also, experiments show that prions are constantly evolving and changing, they have a profound ability to adapt to their new host [3]. Therefore, prions are a huge risk to mammals due to how abundant they are in the environment, how long they last and their ability to evolve.

Key Words: Prion, Protein, Neurological Diseases, Chronic-Wasting Disease, Bovine-Spongiform Encephalopathy

Second Place in Category #4 – Science

STUDENT: Aditya Chakrabarti

PROJECT ADVISOR: Agnes Kim

ABSTRACT

Several methods exist for modeling or calculating the various parameters defining the properties of individual white dwarfs. In addition, in recent years the Gaia mission has provided high precision distances for thousands of white dwarfs. The purpose of this project was threefold: to measure the similarity between the data produced by the White Dwarf Evolution Code (WDEC) and Montreal White Dwarf Database (MWDD), to assess the impact of various parameters on the mass-radius relationship determined from the data, and to determine the temperature of the white dwarfs based on Gaia data and the WDEC mass-radius relation. The WDEC generates models of white dwarf stars, and models it generated were plotted against data acquired by the Gaia mission (from the MWDD) to determine how closely together the methods fit. Also, by fixing various parameters (temperature, mass of the hydrogen and helium layers, envelope mass), plots of the mass-radius relationship were obtained to assess any impact to this relation. Finally, the equation obtained by modeling the mass-radius relationship was used to calculate the temperatures using the luminosity function. These temperatures were plotted against the spectroscopic temperatures obtained from the MWDD to assess discrepancies between the two independent methods. This project showed that the WDEC models are very consistent with data from the Gaia mission, and that none of the parameters chosen had any significant impact on the mass-radius relation. It was also determined that the temperature data from the MWDD was consistent with data calculated from the mass-radius relation generated using WDEC.

STUDENT: Aryan Patel

PROJECT ADVISOR: Asif ud-Doula

ABSTRACT

The Theory of Everything is a concept scientists have been working towards for years. Hawking Radiation and the theory of how it forms provides hope that this theory can be proven by looking at the event horizon of a black hole, an astronomical object where gravity is so strong that even light cannot escape from it. Because nothing can escape the black hole, this conflicts with the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states that final entropy, a measure of order in a system, must be greater than initial entropy. Jacob Bekenstein proposed that the size of the event horizon is proportional to the mass of the black hole. This means that if a black hole gains mass, its event horizon will expand, increasing its entropy and obeying the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Stephen Hawking built on this theory and realized that black holes can also decay, furthering entropy. This decay is theorized to occur from the creation of a positive energy particle and a negative energy particle through quantum fluctuations. If these pairs of particles are formed at the edge of an event horizon, there is a possibility that the antiparticle will enter the event horizon and combine with a particle inside the black hole and annihilate it, decreasing the mass of the black hole. The positive energy particle will wander off into space as Hawking Radiation. Here, we show that this theory unifies Quantum Mechanics and The Theory of Relativity and gives Hawking Radiation a plausible origin.

First Place in Category #4 – Science

STUDENT: Patrick Dougherty

PROJECT ADVISOR: Asif ud-Doula

ABSTRACT

Exoplanets are difficult to detect due to the immense distances between cosmic objects. The sun is 1.30 parsecs or 4.24 light years away from the closest star system. The transit method involves detecting exoplanets by measuring luminosity of a star, dimming of a star indicates an exoplanet transiting, but large distances make the detection tedious due to the small fluctuations of luminosity. Emission and transmission spectroscopy allow scientists to examine physical characteristics of exoplanets. M-dwarf stars are long-living compared to other more massive stars, allowing planets to develop for billions of years, and essentially increase the probability of life developing. Methane has the potential to be a positive indicator of life. The biosphere produces most of the methane in Earth’s atmosphere, and some organisms utilize methane as a source of carbon. Methane affects a plethora of other compounds, such as CO2 and H2O, which are crucial for the development of life. This study connects different branches of science, weaving a framework for life orbiting M-dwarf stars and highlights the importance of methane as a potential biosignature. Modern technology, such as the James Webb Space Telescope due to be launched this year, will be utilized to examine exoplanets orbiting stars in the Milky Way. Key words:

Transit Method: Detection of an exoplanet transiting by measuring luminosity produced by the host star.

Transmission spectroscopy: Observing an exoplanets atmospheric chemical composition by evaluating the light passing through the atmosphere.

M-dwarf star: Long living stars with low temperature and luminosity. The most common stars in the Milky way.

Methane: Powerful greenhouse gas, produced by the biosphere and denoted as CH4.

Winner Library Literacy Award for Posters

STUDENT: Christian Raoul Toussaint

PROJECT ADVISOR: Meg Hatch

ABSTRACT

When it comes to injuries to the Achilles and Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), most of them are suffered when playing an active running/jumping sport like soccer, basketball, and volleyball. These two types of injuries can have different aggravations varying from bad like a slight sprain to worse being a complete tear of the ACL. Although the Achilles is said to be the strongest tendon in the human body, it is commonly injured when performing a sport. Acute Achilles ruptures and chronic Achilles tendinitis are the most frequent (Järvinen, T. A. et al, 2001). Meanwhile, for ACL injuries, they are considered one of the most common knee injuries and they can either be a sprain or a tear. The severity of these injuries can be graded from 1 to 3 with 3 being the worst. There also seems to be a gender difference when it comes to these ACL injuries with women being more susceptible (Shultz, S. J., Griffin, L. Y., 2007). In this review, I will compare the two types of injuries, the different ways they can be treated and the best- and worst-case scenarios. Keywords: sprains, tears, sports injuries, gender differences, treatment.

STUDENT: Blair Hecker

PROJECT ADVISOR: Asif ud-Doula

ABSTRACT

Black holes are objects from which even light cannot escape. They are massive but small in size relative to their mass. There is a general belief that when an object ventures too close to a black hole’s event horizon¹, it gets torn into spaghetti like shreds. This is due to the object’s proximity to the singularity² that lies within a black hole. However, we show here that this can only happen if the mass of the black hole is relatively small. When the black hole is classified as supermassive this ‘spaghettification’ does not occur. In addition, we will also outline different methods for detection of black holes with a special focus on so-called ‘gravitational lensing’³ methods.Key words:
Event horizon¹- The boundary of a black hole that marks the critical limit where the escape velocity of a collapsing body becomes equal to the speed of light.
Singularity²- A mathematical point at which space and time are infinitely distorted.
Gravitational lensing³- A concept arising from the fact that a gravitational field bends light, and hence a concentration of mass can focus light rays in a manner similar to that of a lens.

References: Illingworth, Valerie. The Facts on File Dictionary of Astronomy. Third ed., Facts on File, 1985.