I aim to simplify patient-doctor interactions by creating a chatbot that recommends treatments based on patients’ stated problems and medical history.

As input data, I will use a list of sample data that includes patient history, medical records, the patient’s stated problem, and LLM training data. Using this information, the chatbot will be able to support the patient by providing oral-care tips or Over-The-Counter (OTC) medication if they are experiencing any pain. I will create a sample database in consultation with my external advisor that includes patient history and medical records. Based on this data, if the patient has had similar issues in the past, the chatbot will provide oral remedies.

In this project, I aim to determine if the tone of news articles heavily influences the trends of technology stock market prices. As the stock market changes everyday and is a national market, all data pertaining to it will be purely online. Therefore, I will utilize online datasets, such as NASDAQ and use websites such as Yahoo Finance to gain more information about the market. Additionally, since both my statistical models are online, I will conduct online research and read computer science websites, such as Kaggle and Stack Overflow, to learn how to create and modify my models. Since online news is more common than paper news, I will be using online news outlets, such as The Washington Post and The New York Times as the ones that I am analyzing. Finally, I aim to create a Powerpoint Presentation to present at the Senior Project Presentations as a final product, presenting my findings. If time permits, I want to consolidate my research in the form of a research paper and publish it, however, for now, my main goal is to make a presentation of my findings.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with a mortality rate of 51.6 per 100,000 for men and 34.4 per 100,000 for women. Out of these, about 85% of cases are non-small cell lung cancer, a more common and less aggressive type. Yet, treatments for lung cancer are not extremely effective in combating the lung cancer cells. I will be focusing on immunotherapy, a type of treatment used for cancers that essentially activates T-cells to attack cancer cells. The goal of this project is to improve the efficiency of the immunotherapeutic drug, ipilimumab, against lung cancer, by combining it with an anti-cancer vaccine.

After selecting art forms/artworks (most likely paintings or songs) as inspiration for perfumes I will learn to make, I will conduct surveys with multiple people through social media & connections, learning about the connection between colors/notes, feelings, and smell. This will help me interpret the art into fragrance in a more unbiased way. Subsequently, after getting a general sense of the vibe/scents I want to create, I will learn from my mentors and tinker with making different fragrances.

The perfumes will then be used in studies where the participants who are surveyed beforehand on their feelings on the specific artwork smell/wear the related perfume while looking at the artwork again. They are then surveyed a second time on their feelings evoked by the artwork. Additionally, participants in a different study will smell the scent (on others perhaps) and talk for a bit to a stranger, preferably. Before smelling this scent and after this, different self-reported survey ideas like SAM (valence, arousal, dominance) will be used to measure any differences in the participants. In the end, I expect to create 1-3 perfumes but it really depends on how long it takes me. Lastly, I will analyze my results from the studies and present them as well.

I am doing a hands-on experiment at the Los Altos Heritage Orchard, where I am looking at the impact earthworm castings has on soil properties and on plant growth consequently. I am comparing the 12 tree earthworm castings applied group to the 12 tree non earthworm castings applied control group. I am measuring soil nutrient differences between the 2 groups in pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, and seeing how that is reflected by plant growth over time, seen in budding count, stem length, and chlorophyll content. This experiment should give me great insight into earthworm castings and how they may benefit apricot trees over traditional compost or other soil additives.

Addiction is debilitating, affecting not just the body but also the mind and spirit. Now imagine having the strength to undergo this journey of recovery, only to find every obstacle in the way making it easier to relapse, especially when it comes to sleep. 70% of individuals attempting to recover from addiction struggle with chronic sleep issues. My project aims to take a significant step towards addressing this issue at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto, where the residential rehabilitation program serves as a haven for dozens of veterans battling addiction and other neurological challenges upon returning from military service. Teaming up with attending psychiatrist Dr. Anbalagan, we're delving into the realm of neuroscience, psychology, and compassionate care to study the effects of integrating Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) into existing treatment protocols. Through exhaustive literature reviews and baseline data collection on veterans’ sleep patterns and recovery rates, we'll implement interventions associated with sleep therapy, ranging from controlling sleep timings and naps to managing electronics and dietary habits before bed. Leveraging technological innovations such as wearable devices and CBT-I apps, we'll provide personalized interventions tailored to each participant's needs. By addressing sleep disturbances, our hypothesis anticipates a ripple effect on various facets of recovery, from reducing cravings to enhancing overall well-being. My expectation is not confined to statistical outcomes on the correlation between sleep and addiction recovery rate; it extends to the profound impact on the lives of veterans, offering them newfound hope in their healing journey.

“Monster of the Deep” or “Ecological Savior”? Since the release of Jaws, sharks have been at the forefront of apprehensions of the ocean and its unknowns. Prior to the movie, shark attacks were reported infrequently. However, since the movie’s screening, shark reports, political rhetoric, and control programs have substantially increased in prevalence and severity, especially in Australia, despite no increase in actual attacks. Consequently, how has public media’s portrayal (movies, news stories, and general rhetoric) of sharks affected Australian White Shark populations and public perceptions of the animal? Utilizing existing databases and sightings, this project will attempt to determine the potential statistically significant link between public information and yearly changes in these populations, contextualized on a timeline of notable shark-related media releases and expert opinions. The publication of villainous depictions of sharks and their overexaggerated threat to humans has changed common perception, but determining its numerical impact may be helpful in driving any necessary change in communication to save a variety of species from extinction if there exists a connection between media and changing shark populations. Discovering which methods minimize the damage done to shark populations can check other predators’ populations and keep food chains in equilibrium. Subsequently, transforming these aquatic apex predators’ narrative towards conservation may be essential for maintaining the longevity of our world’s largest natural ecosystem.

The research I will conduct is gaining information on successful game mechanics and puzzles. To procure this information, I will be playing through successful video games and analyze their use of game mechanics and puzzles in relation to the narrative of the games. Additionally, I plan to watch documentaries exploring the use of game mechanics and puzzles and how they are incorporated into video games. Finally, I plan to read through research papers on effective game development strategies as well as engaging forms of game design/mechanics.

The final product of my senior project will be a playable video game and a successful game mechanic and puzzles that help enhance the narrative and increase player immersion. For the game mechanics, I plan to create a side-scroller RPG combat system. There will be one playable character with different equipment and skills to enhance player strength. Additionally, there will be multiple enemy sprites with different skills. For puzzles, I plan to incorporate search puzzles that allow players to explore and interact within the stories.

Some additional game mechanics that I plan to incorporate (if time permits) are a replay system, that allow players to replay parts of the game and interactive character models, which allow players to interact and form bonds with characters.

For this project, I will be using internet research in the form of video essays or online reviews of relevant games. I will choose four games, two games with alternate endings and two games without. I will compile my thoughts regarding how the ability to interact with the story affected my engagement and will refer to internet resources to assign an overall score on how interactability changed a player's game experience. The end product will be a fully written and planned storyline for an original psychological horror game involving trauma that incorporates my findings. I will then work with Isabelle to create a short 15 - 20 minute long game demo.

To conduct operations during a disaster, emergency responders need to understand the infrastructure of the affected area. To map out the area with drones, I chose to employ photogrammetry using OpenSFM, which calculates the center of reference in a series of images to create a point cloud. In my research, I will introduce a data structure called bit-sliced indexing (BSI) to structure from motion, a type of photogrammetry. OpenSFM generally takes a few hours to run on 30 to 60 images, which generates a very photorealistic 3D model. Speeding up the binary operations will make creating 3D models time-efficient and increase the chances of the 3D model being useful for urgent scenarios. Building on my research with Professor Guzun in implementing BSI, I will implement the mathematical operations necessary to run structure from motion. Since all of BSI’s operations should run in linear time, the purpose of this project is to compete with the constant coefficients in NumPy’s also linear runtime. The added benefit of BSI’s compression scheme could also contribute to the resulting runtime.

Since the modern era, video games have been prominent literary mediums for examining the human psyche. Through engrossing narratives, graphics, and interactive decision-making options that may impact the outcome of the storyline, these games such as Omori and Fran Bow allow audiences to immerse themselves in unique worlds and step inside the intricacies of a character’s mind. Furthermore, as our society has become increasingly “digitized,” video games have become sought after for educational purposes and their great potential to be affordable, readily accessible, and effective resources for coping. With my mentor Dr. Side Xi, I plan to write the story and create visuals for a role-playing game (RPG) titled Themedior, which explores the effects of the digital realm in a futuristic and fantasy setting. I will use Procreate and Live2D, to experiment and draw my illustrations in an aesthetic that best engages with a younger audience.

The 1900s was an insane time for people. Most individuals lived through a World War, saw their country split up by foreign nations, and sat through immense cultural and technological change. Authoritarian regimes rose out of this tumult, with leaders like Mussolini in Italy, Idi Amin in Uganda, and Raphael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic all taking power in the mid-1900s. With the advent of international humanitarian organizations and the United Nations, however, democracy seemed to reign supreme again by the turn of the century. This is once again changing, though. Putin’s Russia, for example, is balancing eerily on the precipice between “informational autocracy” and becoming an overtly violent dictatorship. That’s why, for my senior project, I will be examining infamous leaders and events from the 20th c. and writing about the uncanny similarities they share with many contemporary politicians. My writing will largely be satirical, as not everyone is a history nerd, so gilding my research in humor will hopefully be more palatable. My work is intended to educate people on history so they can make more informed political decisions in the modern day.

As the Copa America and Euros are right around the corner this summer, it would be cool to have the average fan see the sport of soccer through a new lens. This project is interesting on its own because many people understand how aerodynamics may affect how far an object is thrown or kicked in sports but less so about the impact of the materials that make up the ball. Using multiple World Cup balls from different years, I want to show how the material composition of a ball can lead to different movements when kicked. There will be two phases to the project, with the in-person experiment taking place at Sportsplex. I chose Sportsplex as it has an indoor soccer field, while also having a semi-professional league where I will be able to use facilities such as a ball launching mechanism. This in-person approach will give the audience a picture of how the ball would curve and move taken through various motion cameras. Through this, we should be able to quantify and differentiate the ball’s movements, by measuring the angle of degree the ball travels in, the distance each ball travels, and the spin rate of each ball. The simulation will be more theoretical, where I can show the audience how a typical soccer ball would work in a perfect environment. I predict that the material composition, especially the ones with few seams, will be evident in some ball’s movements, such as the 2010 World Cup Ball in the Jabulani, while being less evident in other World Cup Balls, such as the one used in the 2022 Qatar World cup.

Context:

In this research project, I will be finding if the pixel art medium could have a similar effect like other more rendered art styles in the horror game genre. If pixel art has a similar standard to other art mediums, this would allow starting indie game developers to have an easier access to quality art but not as time consuming or expensive. As someone who is looking to enter the game development sphere, time and money is a huge issue when it comes to creating games. Lowering the art barrier could allow for more thought into story/world building as well as new mechanics.

Methods:

First, I will play psychological horror games that contain monsters; I will record my own reactions and shifts of empathy caused by noticing details of the design. After learning of my reactions, I will watch a randomized set of streamers' reactions and see what design features are detected and how their reactions change. I will record my and streamer's reactions on a 1-5 scale on how excited they were when a creature appeared. I will then analyze the monsters, gather as much detail about the design as possible, and categorize them based on similar features such as color, size, physical details, and gore. Using this information, I know what parts of my design should be emphasized to convey my desired reaction.

The final product of this research will be my own concept artwork of monsters in the pixel art style. I will then create, with the help of my partner Cindy, a game put my monsters into context through being in the environment and in cutscenes.

Hypothesis:

I believe that using pixel art will help decrease the stimulation of the game environment and allot players more of their focus on absorbing story elements. The relatively reduced barrier of pixel art facilitates game developers in allocating more of their resources and money towards worldbuilding and game mechanics, thereby streamlining entry into the indie game industry with greater ease, in both time and financial investment.

Significance:

The video game market is huge and has only grown since the onset of COVID-19, when everything went virtual. Successful horror games like Five Nights At Freddy’s, Omori, and the recent Lethal Company achieved significant commercial success with millions of copies sold. Most of the top games currently are horror genres, and I aim to reduce the entry barriers to this industry, particularly in terms of artistic requirements.

I will conduct my research by reading academic journals and industry publications. I will also attend/watch recordings of battery sustainability workshops Through this literature review, I hope to discover the latest advancements, challenges, and emerging trends in sustainable battery technologies.

Then, I will explore potential design modifications that could enhance the safety and feasibility of reused batteries, such as the integration of advanced sensor technologies and a disassembly-friendly structure. To test my ideas, I will construct prototype batteries and perform tests on safety, efficiency, and durability. I will also explore compatibility with existing infrastructure. By disassembling used batteries, rather than building new ones, I will see how my designs can be incorporated into already existing batteries. At the end, I will present the data that I have collected and discuss future modifications that could be done to improve battery designs for recycling.

How can we achieve Pareto Efficiency in games like the Prisoner’s Dilemma? In Game Theory, the Nash Equilibrium is the outcome of a game if both players act in their best interest, and an outcome is Pareto Efficient if no other outcome is better for both players. In many games, the Nash Equilibria are not Pareto Efficient, leading to inefficiencies in micro scale market transactions, but also overall macro scale effects, such as negative externalities like climate change or pollution. There have been many attempts to solve the issue, from repeating the game to introducing cooperation—yet most are ineffective as they rely on the game organizer to corroborate the solution.

To address this, I will look at the effects of legally binding contracts as a mechanism to a solution. I will investigate the theoretical basis for using legally binding contracts, and test the theory through experimental data. I expect that the legally binding contracts will be effective, potentially offering a solution to both micro and macro scale inefficiencies.