The Bane of the Ancients: A Software Adaptation of the Tabletop Role-Playing Adventure

This project is the adaptation of a tabletop role-playing experience into an interactive computer program, with an emphasis on effective storytelling, world-building, combat, and player choice. The story provided by the customer, “The Bane of the Ancients”, was initially designed within the Dungeon Crawl Classics framework. Translation of this design into a digital format required many creative and technical additions to the original concept, including sound and art design, music composition, world building and structuring, and development of interaction mechanics and physics. The digital experience was built on top of the Godot engine for its ease of adoption in regards with the chosen style. The software utilizes a top-down art style to convey storytelling and interactive elements. The development of the software followed an agile development cycle with two-week sprints to allow for flexibility and efficiency while working closely with the customer. The scope of our prototype was limited to the first act of the written story so that sufficient time and resources can be devoted to implementing all requested features

Harre Union Photo Booth: Back End Overhaul

The Harre Union at Valparaiso University currently has a vintage photo booth that is run by a Windows Desktop and AutoIt. This has led to issues with reliability and maintainability. To remedy this, the university’s engineering department has requested an overhaul of the toolchain. For this overhaul, the team chose to implement a Raspberry Pi 5 programmed via Python. The Raspberry Pi 5 was chosen because it offers great performance and a simple way to program and assemble an embedded system with complex functionality - all on a 3x2 inch board. Python was used due to its integration with the Raspberry Pi\u27s GPIO. Within the photo booth’s software, many libraries are utilized. OpenCV is used to get input from the camera and display it on the screen along with other GUI elements such as text. Everything that is shown to the user is generated using the powerful tools in the OpenCV library. The pictures stored are tied to a key that the user can enter into a form along with their email to receive their pictures. The minimization of the system has decreased the points of failure and vastly improved the performance, reliability, and maintainability relative to the previous system

The Viability of Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Invasive Dental Procedures Post Joint Arthroplasty

Objectives: Prosthetic joint infection can be caused by several infective routes but can cause severe management and provide difficult outcomes in quality of life. This research paper aims to determine the role and viability of antibiotic prophylaxis in those with joint arthroses prior to invasive dental procedures. In addition, the determination of harm made to the patient if antibiotic prophylaxis is continued. Methods: Multiple search terms including Prophylaxis, prophylactic antibiotics, total joint arthroplasty, joint arthroplasty, minor procedure, Joint replacement, Invasive Dental prophylaxis and Dental procedures were used on platforms such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Elsevier and EBSCOhost to perform a literature review of multiple sources within the last 5 years from 2019-2024. Results: Multiple sources show that antibiotic prophylaxis does not decrease the occurrence of prosthetic joint infection following invasive dental procedures. Other prevention measures actually show a decreased rate of bacteremia and seeding of oral bacterial strains. Conclusion: Antibiotic prophylaxis has no true role prior to normal invasive dental procedures and thus the rate of infection is overexaggerated. Options such as oral hygiene management and chlorhexidine mouth washes should be used to decrease the risk of oral bacterial spread to joint prostheses. Keywords: prosthetic joint infection(s), invasive dental procedures, antibiotic prophylaxis, bacteremia, hematogenous bacteremia, biofilm prophylaxis Objectives: Prosthetic joint infection can be caused by several infective routes but can cause severe management and provide difficult outcomes in quality of life. This research paper aims to determine the role and viability of antibiotic prophylaxis in those with joint arthroses prior to invasive dental procedures. In addition, the determination of harm made to the patient if antibiotic prophylaxis is continued. Methods: Multiple search terms including Prophylaxis, prophylactic antibiotics, total joint arthroplasty, joint arthroplasty, minor procedure, Joint replacement, Invasive Dental prophylaxis and Dental procedures were used on platforms such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Elsevier and EBSCOhost to perform a literature review of multiple sources within the last 5 years from 2019-2024. Results: Multiple sources show that antibiotic prophylaxis does not decrease the occurrence of prosthetic joint infection following invasive dental procedures. Other prevention measures actually show a decreased rate of bacteremia and seeding of oral bacterial strains. Conclusion: Antibiotic prophylaxis has no true role prior to normal invasive dental procedures and thus the rate of infection is overexaggerated. Options such as oral hygiene management and chlorhexidine mouth washes should be used to decrease the risk of oral bacterial spread to joint prostheses

Improving Quality of Life in Menopausal Women Through a Best Practice Protocol: the Use of Hormone Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Module and Exercise

Menopause is a normal process of aging, but many of the symptoms negatively impact women’s day-to-day quality of life (QOL), as well as activities of daily living, physical and mental health (ACOG, 2014). Generally, systemic estrogen hormone therapy is indicated for menopause-related vasomotor symptoms, but there is no research further addressing QOL issues or lifestyle management in addition to hormone therapy. The purpose of this evidence-base practice (EBP) project was to implement a menopause protocol to address QOL issues in menopausal women with the use of hormone replacement therapy, education through an online mindfulness module, and the use of exercise. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling from eligible patients at scheduled appointments. Ten women aged 46-58 years old from an outpatient private women’s health clinic in Wisconsin participated in this project. Once recruited, participants completed a demographic form, a menopause-specific quality of life (MENQOL) survey and were given educational handouts (Appendix A). The intervention included the application of UCLA Mindful creation of an individual exercise program for the patient, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). HRT was prescribed by the providers, based on patient eligibility and preference. Participants were monitored for a total of ten weeks, which included a check-in at five weeks. Post intervention, participants were readministered the MENQOL to determine effectiveness of the intervention. Pre and post intervention scores were evaluated using a paired sample t test. Overall, results of the MENQOL scores showed a significant large difference between pre intervention scores (M= 4.5, SD = 1) and post intervention scores (M= 3.8, SD = 0.8), t (9) = 2.9, p = 0.17. Findings from this project can inform future development of guidelines for provider use in the management of menopausal women and their symptoms

Using Environmental Biotechnology to Improve Waterways in Jalisco, Mexico

BIO-290 allows students to explore environmental biotechnology at the Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus in Guadalajara. There are multiple sources of xenobiotics within the food industry in Mexico, notably tequila vinasses and animal waste. Tequila vinasses are mixtures of organic compounds disposed of in the tequila distillation process, and often these high-nutrient compounds end up in local waterways. Similarly, animal waste on farms is produced at an extremely high rate and runs off into rivers and streams. This results in eutrophication which prevents oxygen from getting below the surface of the water, thus damaging the ecosystem. In collaboration with Dr. Gradilla Hernandez’s lab, we performed experiments to use vinasse as fertilizer for agave or as biofuel. We watered agave in Tequila, Jalisco with different volumes of water or vinasse to determine if there was a growth difference in the plants. We also used a flocculant to reduce the turbidity of wastewater in order to use it as a laboratory growth media. Utilizing the xenobiotics in this way will help create a circular economy and reduce waste in the waterways. Aside from the environmental biotechnology research, we participated in various cultural experiences to learn more about Mexico and the importance of our research there

Management of Anovulatory Infertility due to Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: Comparing Clomiphene Citrate and Letrozole

Objectives: This paper compares effectiveness of clomiphene citrate and letrozole in treating anovulation in women experiencing anovulatory infertility due to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Included are secondary comparisons effectiveness between letrozole and clomiphene citrate on rates of pregnancy and risks of multiple pregnancies. Methods: Google scholar, PubMed, and Cochrane Library were the websites used. The date of articles published was set from 2019 to the present. Exclusion criteria included any other form of infertility that was not contributed to PCOS, articles not written in English, articles without full text available, and studies investigating fertility treatments other than clomiphene citrate and letrozole. A total of five studies were analyzed. Results: Studies selected compared the rates of ovulation between two groups of women. One group was treated with letrozole and the other with clomiphene citrate. Population ranged from 28 to 200 participants. Letrozole was proven to have higher ovulation rates than in the groups that were given clomiphene citrate. Results were measured by number of women who ovulated. Secondary endpoints were recorded. Conclusion: Letrozole was found to be more effective at increasing rates of ovulation in women with infertility due to anovulatory PCOS than clomiphene citrate. Secondary endpoints showed that the use of letrozole had higher probability of successful pregnancy and live birth, whereas clomiphene citrate had higher probability of spontaneous abortion. Letrozole was more probable to result in single gestation where clomiphene citrate showed higher potential of multiple gestation. Keywords: clomiphene citrate, clomid, letrozole, infertility, anovulation, PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrom

Rotator Cuff Tear: Comparison of Postoperative Outcomes between the Mini-Open Approach, Arthroscopic Approach, and Conservative Measures

Objective: Comparing outcomes of different treatment approaches for rotator cuff tears in terms of pain and function. Other factors to consider are postoperative complications and patient satisfaction. Comparing arthroscopic surgery, mini-open surgery, and conservative measures. Methods: Comparing data from 1 Cross sectional case control study, 3 Systematic Review and Meta-analysis, and 1 Meta-analysis. Results: The results were not found to be clinically significant when comparing conservative measures, arthroscopic repair, and mini-open repair. Conclusions: More data is needed to reach a definitive conclusion. All three treatment modalities provided relief of symptoms. Keywords: Rotator cuff, mini-open repair, arthroscopic repair, conservative treatment, pain, functio

The Leader as Life Coach — A Transformative Leadership Perspective

The focus of this paper is on the need for organizations to address the failures of ineffective leadership by adopting a transformative leadership perspective and incorporating seven roles of a Life Coach to encourage, support, and assist employees as they guide them in achieving organizational objectives and excelling personally and professionally. The paper begins by explaining what is meant by a transformative leadership perspective and identifies why that approach to leading organizations is so important. Describing seven roles of the Life Coach, the paper explains how these roles enhance individual and organization performance and offers practical insights for leaders seeking to implement each of the Life Coach roles. After identifying five contributions of the paper for practitioners and scholars, the paper challenges its readers to rethink their current assumptions about creating effective relationship with employees and improving the modern organization

Predicting Professional Golf Success Using Amateur Rankings

One important question in sports is whether it is possible to predict a player’s professional performance based on their collegiate or amateur success. This question has relevance for coaches, fans, and the players themselves. Many studies have examined the relationship between amateur and professional performance in sports such as football and basketball, but no such studies have been conducted in golf. In this study, we combine data from three prominent amateur, collegiate, and professional golf ranking websites in order to predict golfers’ professional success based on their performance as an amateur and collegiate player. The data for the analysis was collected using web scraping, including the Selenium package in Python. Once the data was collected, regression analysis was used to predict players’ professional rankings at various time increments after turning professional based on their amateur and collegiate rankings. Additionally, logistic regression was used to predict whether or not a player reaches certain ranking milestones. The results of this study will be valuable for golf fans and aspiring professionals, as well as the academic community. Many golfers are curious about their chances of success if they were to turn professional, and fans are interested in this as well. Additionally, this analysis adds onto existing literature that compares professional and amateur success by exploring a sport that has not been examined before