ȺpÎÞÂë

Title: Printing Our Future: Medical Applications of 3D Printing Technology
Abstract: With technology at the forefront of society, it is important to exploit developments in order to improve healthcare quality.  The rise of three-dimensional printing technology has several medical applications.  For example, personalized 3D printed models have shown applicability in helping with pre-operative planning regarding kidney tumors, pelvic fractures, and clavicle fractures.  Models have also been made to assist during breast reconstruction and liver transplant surgery.  Additionally, 3D printing can be used to make prosthetic devices including prosthetic sockets, upper-limb prosthetics, and facial prosthesis.  The use of 3D printing technology can be applied to the skin tone matching of soft tissue prostheses, too.  Moreover, three-dimensional printing can be used with bioactive materials.  For instance, the following tissues have already been printed: bone scaffolds for bone regeneration, muscle-tendon units, human skin grafts, aortic heart values, and tissues for ear restoration.  These 3D printing medical applications have numerous benefits.  Among these benefits would be cost effectiveness, personalized medical care, and overall improvement in treatment.  Furthermore, improved treatment has been seen in more accurate surgeries, understanding of patient-specific conditions, and increased patient satisfaction.  Beyond the hospital setting, 3D printing of tissues allows for experimentation to better appreciate disease states and drug interactions.  While 3D printing is past its infancy, the use of 3D printing in the medical field is increasingly important as evident by its various advantages.

Title: Where is Most Foreign Direct Investment Going and Which Countries are Most Attractive for Foreign Investments?
Abstract:
Aims: This research analyzes the amounts of capital that companies invest in foreign countries and which countries have better environments for business (i.e., ease of doing business, corruption, economic fundamentals, etc.) to shed light on the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI).

Methodology: We use the global opportunity index to study selected countries’ economic fundamentals, ease of doing business, regulatory quality and rule of law. Each category defines and measures the economic and institutional factors that attract foreign direct investment. We will then use data describing how much foreign direct investment actually went into each country to see if their index scores are correlated with their FDI. After looking at these scores and investment flows, we can then give examples of companies that are in these foreign markets and why they are there. By looking at this information, we will predict what countries will attract the most foreign direct investment in the future.

Results: We are investigating the questions, “Where is most foreign direct investment heading?” and “Why?” We will analyze which countries have the most foreign direct investment and their relationship to the global opportunity index which measures factors favorable to foreign investment. Our preliminary results are that politically stable countries with growing economies attract the most FDI.

Conclusion: By analyzing historical FDI patterns and factors that determine them, our work will provide insights regarding the magnitude and direction of future capital flows in the global markets. 

Title: Developing Successful Leaders Across an Integrated Healthcare System
Abstract: As a result of the healthcare systems merging, the organization wanted to evaluate the current state of leadership development and what leaders need in order to be successful, with an end goal of creating a playbook. Three student project managers conducted focus groups and interviews to assist the health system with the design of a playbook for standardizing leadership development.  The purpose of this project was to integrate and centralize leadership development across the system by designing a leadership playbook that will assist leaders while they are leading. The playbook will contribute to the leadership program, as well as support managers with balancing productivity and building confidence.  This process improvement project began by assessing the structure of current resources that are available to new managers as they transition into their role through focus groups and interviews.  Based on the findings, it was observed that while the organization had assumptions on what leaders needed, it differed from what leaders actually stated they needed.  Recommendations for the playbook design such as providing a playbook as a supplement to a leadership program were based on the literature and findings obtained from the focus groups and interviews.

Title: Emojivision: A System for Mapping Facial Expressions to Emoji
Abstract: When communicating through text, people have difficulty using intonation when punctuating their phrases. By not having a person’s face involved in communication, much of the impact is effectively lost. Although a person’s facial expressions aren’t visible when texting, an emoji can convey the mood of the sender without revealing the person’s actual face. In this work, we present Emojivision, a facial recognition system that would automatically select emojis based on the facial expression of a user. This system would be useful for people who want to reveal their emotions in real-time without showing their faces in a web chat or a text message. We propose this to be used in settings of social networking or online dating. Our system will be able to distinguish between several different moods expressed in a given photograph of a person’s face. It works by analyzing different parts of a face separately and assigning a particular combination of facial actions such as eyes closed and an open mouth to a particular mood.  Our system will make use of open source frameworks such as OpenCV to make use of the provided libraries in order to first detect a face in an image, and then try to classify the facial expression of the face using machine learning techniques. The resulting facial expression will then be mapped to an appropriate emoji.

Title: Evaluation of an Undergraduate Peer Mentor Program
Abstract: The goal of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences’s Peer Mentorship Program is to promote nursing students’ scholarship and success in the nursing program. The CONHS implemented a student-developed Peer Mentorship Program in 2010 for the BAC/BSN population, which was expanded to include traditional undergraduate nursing students in 2015. A retrospective study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Peer Mentorship Program.  A comprehensive literature review points to peer mentoring having positive effects on student retention, and perceived social support. The potential for improved retention rates and student success, as a result of participation in an effective peer mentor program, would indicate a reason to expand the Peer Mentorship Program to include graduate nursing students as well. The researchers will collect data regarding nursing student retention, GPA, and perceived psychosocial support, career support, and role modeling. The study will utilize Survey Monkey to anonymously distribute the Mentoring Functions Questionnaire-9, to all past and present participants in the COHNP’s Peer Mentorship Program. Additionally, aggregate retention and GPA data will be collected for comparison between those who participated in the program and the general BAC/BSN and traditional nursing student populations during the same time period. Analysis software will be utilized to interpret the data collected. This study will be implemented, evaluated, interpreted, and presented along with recommendations for enhancement or expansion of the program. Improved retention rates, and well-supported students in the school of nursing will aid in the continued success of ȺpÎÞÂë’s nursing program.