Modeling and Comparing the Effectiveness of Combinations of Solutions to Renewable-Caused Instability

Electricity production is the single largest source of global carbon emissions, making the transition from dirty energy sources, such as coal and natural gas, an essential step in averting the worst consequences of climate change. However, renewables such as wind and solar power, currently the most promising sources of clean energy, destabilize the grid, making it harder for grid operators to react to sudden incidents, such as a generator failing, in time to prevent blackouts. The proposal and development of various technologies to counter this destabilizing effect have unsubstantial literature on a quantitative comparison of the effectiveness of these technologies and often focus on the impacts of a single technology, ignoring how several different solution technologies may interact with each other. This research project seeks to resolve this gap and help guide public policy. Using ETAP’s transient stability software with varying amounts of 5 solution technologies will simulate an electric grid’s response to a loss of power generation to identify the gap. Data analysis of results will aid in resolving this gap and help guide the direction of public policy.

What is the role of music in a teenager’s life, especially in helping them combat stress and improve performance?

The current teen mental health crisis has reached the point where teen stress levels reportedly exceed that of adults. Significant research has proven the rehabilitating effect of music on people of various age groups, from enhancing cognitive abilities in babies to helping with mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s and depression in the elderly. However, there is a significant gap in the research studying the effect of music in helping teenagers deal with the growing mental health crisis. As one of the biggest music consumers, teens’ everyday exposure to music could be one of the many ways to combat the growing teen mental health crisis. This research project will test how exposure to music affects one’s ability to play stress-inducing games such as Bop It and Cooking Madness through three groups: students singing in a choir, students not taking a music elective listening to music, and a control group with no interaction with music.The findings will be shared with adults and educators to design programs to increase music exposure in schools and other venues.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of audio post-editing for a translator to learn colloquial expressions, and how does this compare to text post-editing?

There is a problem with translation quality in modern translators--items such as idioms, names, and concepts can often be difficult to translate with a machine. The problem will continue to increase as the translation improvement rate trails behind language development. Additionally, translation errors often occur in expressions exclusive to a particular area's culture. As a result, verbatim translation may not be available as intricacies of specific expressions or the cultural context behind them. As a result, translators may translate the language while losing its true meaning. Machine translators have yet to develop a human-like intelligence and understanding of language, making this error quite often. This research project will study the quality, common errors, and efficiency of specific machine translators to improve the quality of these translations.

Correlation between success in high school math and future careers

As new technologies continue to develop, the importance of STEM education continues to grow. Math is the foundational subject in STEM and is now becoming one of the most important subjects for students pursuing a career in STEM fields. Research is underway to understand the relationship between high school math achievements and future professions. This research project aims to broaden the age group and expand the target population more domestically into the U.S. to develop current research futher.

Current Approaches at Minimizing the Consequences of Prenatal Exposure to Opioids in the AI/AN Populations of California

The opioid epidemic is a major public-health concern that has taken a toll on 564,000 lives. Of the large population of adults who are becoming more reliant on these addictive drugs, it is important to also examine the effects that the opioid epidemic has had on the prenatal population. As a result, there is also a large population of infants who are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Currently, the American Indian and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) populations are disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic with the highest rates of NAS in California. This research fouces on current programs that are currently in place to decrease the effects of the opioid epidemic on the AI/AN population.

Cell Migration Patterns in Glioblastoma Tumors Using CRISPR Technology

People are often remiss that the lack of medical research remains a critical problem until it personally impacts them with drastic consequences, such as severe illness with the potential consequence of death. CRISPR/Cas-9 technology is a recent revolutionary discovery in the science of gene modification. This research project studies the progress made in developing CRISPR systems to study cancer and the emerging adaptation of these technologies to improve diagnosis and treatment. Technology has given us a tool to change genetic material in living organisms by using a mechanism that was initially a defense system in bacteria. Despite covering CRISPR’s positive effects, it puts in front of us a huge responsibility to consider both the unintended consequences as well as the intended impacts of a scientific breakthrough.

How does UV Radiation affect the growth of Basal Cell Carcinoma?

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common skin cancer worldwide, with increased severity caused by UV radiation (UVR). UVR is a carcinogen that causes basal cell carcinoma by damaging the DNA inside skin cells, leading to the abnormal function of the DNA repair system and altering the immune system, resulting in progressive genetic alterations and the formation of neoplasm. Abnormal hedgehog signaling and blocking this pathway inhibits tumor growth, which promotes BCC in the skin. This process occurs by blocking Smoothened (SMO), a critical transmembrane protein vital to the hedgehog signaling pathway. However, stopping SMO inhibitor treatment often leads to tumor reoccurrence and is more common in patients with basal cell nevus syndrome, a rare autosomal dominant cancer genetic syndrome.

Alternative Materials for Synthesizing Bioartificial Kidney Tissue

The United States annually has over 100,000 people die while waiting for an organ transplant, with kidneys being one of the most commonly transplanted organs. Artificially created kidney organs present a compelling solution to this issue, allowing for a more significant and consistent supply of organs, including the ability to customize each one to ensure the best fit with the patient’s body. This research project aims to investigate alternative materials for creating artificial kidney tissue to increase durability, vascularization, maturity, and reproducibility over the current bioprinting and growth methods. Data on the properties of numerous polymers will be collected from databases and then assessed to determine which materials show promise for this application.

How can certain visual stimulants provide temporary relief to opiate users going through withdrawal symptoms?

Due to the heightened criminalization of drug use following the war on drugs in the 1970s, incarceration rates for drug use and drug-related deaths peaked. While some forms of treatment are available for drug rehabilitation, these methods remain highly inaccessible for many opiate drug users. This research project examines the possibility of using visual stimulants as an accessible temporary treatment method for relieving drug withdrawal symptoms. By examining the activity of various neurotransmitters in the brain’s reward system alongside the potential of visuals to insight activity in the same receptors, the research is expected to determine whether visual stimulants can counter the adverse neurological effects of withdrawal to provide temporary relief to recovering opiate users.

What impacts does climate change impact children's cognitive development, physical and emotional well-being, and behavior?

The healthy development of children is crucial to any society's well-being. Extreme weather events may disrupt children's education by damaging schools and making it difficult for them to attend classes regularly. These events can also lead to food and water shortages, affecting children's physical health, cognitive development, and emotional well-being. Many studies have examined climate change's impact on child development. However, most of these studies are on children in the United States, and there is significantly less research on children in other parts of the world. This research project will investigate the dangers climate change poses to the next generation of children in developing nations by analyzing data from recent studies. The research will demonstrate the impacts of climate change on child development so that nations can actively work toward solutions.

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