Latest Case Studies
Subject: Dual-Channel Near-infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) Measurement Precision Improvement
Achievement: Reduce 83% measurement error of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) research experiment by 3 innovative solution
Background Information: 700 to 900 nm wavelength near infrared light is suitable to measure the change of hemoglobin concentration because hemoglobin absorbs little light signal at 700 to 900 nm wavelength range.
Review: Previous master senior’s measurement stability(6% error) is not good enough to be used in practical application.
Root Cause Analysis: Experimental measurement error result from:
(1) Time Difference
(2) Position Difference
(3) Manual Operation of Data Analysis
Solutions:
(1) “Dual Channel” design to detect light simultaneously to reduce time difference error
(2) “Precision Position Holder” design by 3D printing technology and SketchUp software tool to reduce position difference error
(3) Develop “Automatic image processing and Data Analysis” software tool with my team member CHEN,BO-YU to reduce manual data analysis error as well as reduce data analysis time by 99%.
Some best practice examples of high school students research paper/abstract
For high school students, it is not easy to publish research findings in journals/conferences. However, high school students still can find best practices research examples in some international activities.
Research Paper examples of high school students
Aberrant Human Gut Microbiome Composition in COVID-19 Patients: A Meta-Analysis
Cindy H. Lu
Arcadia High School, 180 Campus Dr, Arcadia, CA, 91006, U.SA.; [email protected]
IJHSR 2023 Vol. 5 Issue 1 p. 18-21
Download Article: https://doi.org/10.36838/v4i6.4
KEYWORDS: Microbiology; Applied Microbiology; COVID-19; Gut Microbiome; Bacterial Diversity.
(Source: IJHSR 2023)
Effect of Temperature on the Purity and Yield of Aspirin
Dhiman Roy
Saint Joseph’s Institution International, Singapore 298191; [email protected]
IJHSR 2023 Vol. 5 Issue 1 p. 22-27
Download Article: https://doi.org/10.36838/v5i1.5
KEYWORDS: Acetylsalicylic acid; esterification; yield; spectrophotometry; thin layer chromatography.
(Source: IJHSR 2023)
Discovery of Novel Genetic Alteration Using Meta-analysis of Colorectal Cancer
Haryeong Eo
Shanghai American School Puxi, 258 Jinfeng Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, China 201107; [email protected]
IJHSR 2023 Vol. 5 Issue 1 p. 34-37
Download Article: https://doi.org/10.36838/v5i1.7
KEYWORDS: Human genetics; Colorectal cancer; Patient survival rate; Chromosome 17; DNA integrity checkpoint.
(Source: IJHSR 2023)
Livestock Manure Recycling for Vegetable Farms in Hong Kong
Lauren Hsu
Choate Rosemary Hall, 333 Christian Street, Wallingford, CT, 06492, U.S.A; [email protected]
IJHSR 2023 Vol. 5 Issue 1 p. 49-55
Download Article: https://doi.org/10.36838/v5i1.10
KEYWORDS: Hong Kong; Agriculture; Manure production; Manure recycling; Soil quality; Nutrient demand; Nutrient balance.
(Source: IJHSR 2023)
Comparison of Machine Learning Methods for Early Diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease from Voice Recordings
Aadya Bhat
Eastlake High School, 400 228th Ave N.E., Sammamish, WA, 98074, USA; [email protected]
IJHSR 2022 Vol. 4 Issue 6 p. 1-5
Download Article: https://doi.org/10.36838/v4i6.1
KEYWORDS: Computational Biology and Bioinformatics; Computational Neuroscience; Parkinson’s Disease; Support Vector Machine; Multi-layer Perceptron; Random Forest.
(Source: IJHSR 2022)
Contemporary Trends in MRI and PET Imaging for the Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease
Bianca Chan
Green Hope High School, 2500 Carpenter Upchurch Rd, Cary, North Carolina, 27519, USA; [email protected]
IJHSR 2022 Vol. 4 Issue 6 p. 6-13
Download Article: https://doi.org/10.36838/v4i6.2
KEYWORDS: Alzheimer’s Disease; neural biomarkers; medial temporal lobe atrophy; default mode network; hypoperfusion.
(Source: IJHSR 2022)
Research Abstract examples of high school students
Development and Characterization of a Novel Instantaneous-Crosslinking Pectin-Based Hydrogel
Finalist Names:
Wen, Nolan (School: American Heritage School of Boca Delray)
Booth Id:
CHEM059
Category:
Chemistry
Year:
2023
Abstract:
Hydrogels have received significant attention over the past 30 years due to their potential applications in drug delivery, blood vessel modeling, and as a cancer drug screening; however, they still have limitations: poor mechanical properties and the lack of tissue-regenerative ability and adhesiveness. The purpose of this study was to develop and characterize a new hydrogel system with improved microstructure, mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. The preparation method for the hydrogel was relatively simple: first, pectin, a natural plant derived polysaccharide, was animated in increasing concentrations of ethyl alcohol and air dried. Then, a 1% calcium chloride solution was created. Different concentrations of animated pectin solution were created and cross linked in the calcium chloride solution. The hydrogels were subjected to compressive, tensile, and swelling tests. The swelling tests were conducted in phosphate buffered saline for 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 168 hours. The freshly prepared hydrogel samples and their swelling tested counterparts were freeze-dried for scanning electron microscopy morphological examination and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy elemental analysis. Results showed that the increase in pectin concentration significantly increased compressive strength and the stability of the hydrogel system, but did not have any effect on stretchability. The hydrogel system created in this study was extremely flexible, meaning it could be cross linked into micro particles, macrospheres, dogbone-shaped and cylindrical-shaped samples. All in all, the newly developed hydrogel system showed great promise in various medical applications such as drug delivery, blood vessel modeling, and cancer drug screening.
Awards Won:
YM American Academy: First Award of $3,000
Source: ISEF(International Science and Engineering Fair) , 2023
A Mathematical Study About the Sustaining Phenomenon of Overtone in Flageolet Harmonics on Bowed String Instruments
Finalist Names:
Tanaka, Shodai (School: Sapporo Kaisei Secondary School)
Booth Id:
PHYS009
Category:
Physics and Astronomy
Year:
2023
Abstract:
Flageolet harmonics is a playing technique on bowed string instruments, in which a player lightly touches a nodal point on a string with their finger. Previous studies have reported that the harmonic sound sustains for a short time after the finger is removed from the string during flageolet harmonics was performed on bowed string instruments. However, the mechanism of this harmonics-sustaining phenomenon and the parameter dependency of its sustaining time remain unclear. The purpose of this study is to mathematically investigate the dependence of sustaining time on parameters, and thereby, to elucidate the mechanism of the harmonics-sustaining phenomenon. To this end, a mathematical model was devised by adding terms representing the effects of a bow and a finger to the one-dimensional wave equation. Subsequently, numerical simulation was performed to analyze the behavior of the model. The devised model successfully reproduced the harmonics-sustaining phenomenon in which the parameter dependence of sustaining time was qualitatively consistent with the author’s empirical observations. It was found that the parameter dependence of sustaining time follows the power law. Furthermore, dimensional analysis was performed, yielding the proposing of a formula which expresses the relationship between the sustaining time and the maximum and minimum bow force required to generate Helmholtz motion. As the result, it was predicted that the essence of the parameter dependency of sustaining time is “how the bow obstructs the string behavior”. This study provides a scientific explanation of the harmonics-sustaining phenomenon for the benefit of all players and lovers of bowed string instruments.
Awards Won:
Acoustical Society of America: First Award of $1,500
Source: ISEF(International Science and Engineering Fair) , 2023
The Neurobiology of Suicide: Claudin-5 Is a Novel Biomarker of Suicide Pathogenesis
Finalist Names:
Kulviwat, Natasha (School: Jericho High School)
Booth Id:
BMED028
Category:
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Year:
2023
Abstract:
Every forty seconds, suicide steals a life, yet no biomarkers exist for suicide. Suicide has largely been investigated from a psychological lens, and therefore the pathogenesis remains unclear. This study investigated blood-brain barrier (BBB) claudin-5 breakdown, the most enriched BBB tight junction, as a biomarker for suicide. Human de-identified postmortem brain tissue (n=20) was stratified based on suicide as a cause of death. ELISAs assessed cytokine and claudin-5 levels, St. Paul-Ramsey Scale (SPRS) evaluated stressful life events, and an immunolabeling solvent-cleared organs protocol determined claudin-5 anatomical localization. RNA-sequencing data from publicly available repositories was aligned to perform pathway enrichment and differential expression analyses. Molecular docking software PyRx determined whether current medications to treat suicide and anti-inflammatory compounds dock with claudin-5. IL-6 and IL-8 were higher in suicide cases (p < 0.05) indicating neuroinflammation and claudin-5 was increased in the brain of suicide cases (p < 0.05). Photomicrographs indicated mislocalization of claudin-5 in neurons and brain microvessels of suicides. Inflammatory and neurodegenerative pathways modulating claudin-5 degradation were found. BBB destabilizing matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) was upregulated (log2F2 = 4.10, p < 0.001), and aquaporin-1 (AQP1) was downregulated (log2F2 = -1.58; p < 0.001) in suicide. Molecular docking indicated a weak affinity of antidepressant medications for claudin-5, but a strong affinity for medications targeting MMP-1 and AQP1. High claudin-5 levels and SPRS scores could serve as pre-markers for suicide. Future in vitro assessments should evaluate the novel therapeutics promoting claudin-5 for suicide risk prevention.
Awards Won:
First Award of $5,000
Source: ISEF(International Science and Engineering Fair) , 2023
HDformer: A Higher Dimensional Transformer With a Novel Time Square Attention Mechanism Utilizing Long Range Vascular Signals for Diabetes Detection, and an AI-Based PPG Wearable
Finalist Names:
Lan, Ella (School: The Harker School)
Booth Id:
TMED061
Category:
Translational Medical Science
Year:
2023
Abstract:
Diabetes mellitus is a global concern, and early detection can prevent serious complications. 50% of people live with undiagnosed diabetes, disproportionately afflicting low-income groups. Non-invasive methods have emerged for timely detection; however, limited accuracy constrains their clinical usage. In this research, Phase-1 creates a novel Higher Dimensional Transformer (HDformer), the first Transformer-based architecture which utilizes long-range photoplethysmography (PPG) to detect diabetes. Long-range PPG maximizes signal contextual information when compared to the <30 second signals commonly used in existing research. To increase the computational efficiency of HDformer’s long-range processing, a new attention module, Time Square Attention (TSA), is invented to reduce the volume of tokens by >10x, while retaining the local/global dependencies. TSA converts the 1D inputs into 2D representations, grouping the adjacent points into a single 2D token. It then generates dynamic patches and feeds them into a gated mixture-of-experts (MoE) network, optimizing the learning on different attention areas. HDformer achieves state-of-the-art results (sensitivity 98.4, accuracy 97.3, specificity 92.8, AUC 0.929) on the standard MIMIC-III dataset, surpassing existing research. Phase-2 develops an end-to-end solution where a low-cost wearable is prototyped to connect with the HDformer in the Cloud via a mobile app. This scalable, convenient, and affordable approach can provide instantaneous detection and continuous monitoring for individuals, help doctors easily screen diabetes, and safeguard underprivileged communities, minimizing treatment delays and saving lives. This work can also be generalized to analyze other long-range biomedical waveforms, further expanding its impact.
Awards Won:
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence: First Award of $1,500
Source: ISEF(International Science and Engineering Fair) , 2023
Intelligent Hydrogel Synthesis and Bracelet Design to Detect Foreign Materials in the Human Body and in Beverages
Finalist Names:
Asyali, Ekin (School: Gaziantep Private Sanko College)
Gulsen, Sude (School: Gaziantep Private Sanko College)
Booth Id:
CHEM024T
Category:
Chemistry
Year:
2023
Abstract:
It is known that substances such as cocaine, barbiturates, LSD, and its derivatives, which have a stimulant and narcotic effect, have a strong addictive effect by directly affecting the central nervous system. Therefore, it is very important to detect these substances quickly and safely. This study, it was focused on the search for a solution in order to give a more accurate and valid result for the presumptive tests used today. A typical presumptive test consists of a foreign substance and a reagent that reacts with it and changes color. In the study, 19 different markers were synthesized and these markers were integrated into the gel by synthesizing a sodium alginate-based hydrogel. The prepared hydrogel was tested on store brought chicken skin surface which has residues of simulation cocaine and simulation morphine, 33 different urine samples obtained from forensic cases, 7 synthetic saliva containing various drugs, and 4 beverages containing simulation cocaine and simulation morphine. As a result of these tests, color changes were observed. It was observed that the synthesized hydrogel changed color in the presence of simulation drugs and real anonym samples from forensic cases. The synthesized hydrogel can be put into a wristband in the form of a watch, and it can even be turned into an item that people can carry with them and easily test it. In addition, a device with a color sensor was designed to detect the color formed in the hydrogel.
Awards Won:
First Award of $5,000
Source: ISEF(International Science and Engineering Fair) , 2023