Tag: Poster Presentation

Audrey Stephanie¹
Faculty Mentor: Kimberly Nehls, Ph.D.^1
1Lee Business School, Department of Marketing and International Business

ABSTRACT
The average Indonesian labor workers earn lower in terms of the hourly rate, thus forcing them to work longer hours to cover their daily financial needs, but how is this correlating to the country’s economic progress as a whole?
Data are collected from the year 2017 by comparing Indonesia’s Annual working hours vs. GDP per capita chart as well as the Annual working hours vs. Labor productivity chart to other countries.
Richer countries tend to have fewer working hours but higher wage rates as well as higher productivity. The annual working hours per worker in Indonesia is 2,024 hours while their GDP per Capita was at $10,594.07 in comparison to Japan, a richer country in ASIA with annual working hours per worker of 1,738 hours while their GDP per Capita was at $40,373.75 which is 4 times higher in terms of GDP.
The economic progress of a country does not solely depend on long working hours, it does have a lot to do with resources and the ability to increase their life quality but workers in poorer countries barely have time to improve themselves in terms of skills, knowledge, or just in terms of their general health both mentally and physically. Workers who already worked long hours barely have time to invest in themselves, thus placing them in a loophole.”

Matthew Valenciano¹
Faculty Mentor: Kimberly Nehls, Ph.D.^2
1Lee Business School, Department of Economics
²Lee Business School, Department of Marketing and International Business

ABSTRACT
Global leaders understand that Earth cannot survive if we continue to use fossil fuels for energy use, yet renewables make up of just 26.2 percent of global electricity generation as of 2018. The United States and Europe have made contributions to global renewable energy use but haven’t made the leap that Latin American countries are willing to take. Primarily in Costa Rica, according to the country’s National Center for Energy Control, Costa Rica has been running on more than 98 percent renewable energy since 2014. Most of this energy, 67.5 percent, comes from hydropower. Additionally, wind power generates 17 percent, geothermal sources make up 13.5 percent and biomass and solar panels comprise 0.84 percent. Results show that Costa Rica has proven that their country can run solely on renewable energy for up to 300 days, as they proved this in 2017 where they set a world record. Due to Costa Rica’s plan to fully ban fossil fuels, deforestation has been successfully revered in the nation. Because of this, Costa Rica capitalized economically by enacting the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) and began selling its energy surplus to Central America’s Regional Electricity Market in 2015. The electricity helps power Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, and El Salvador. By 2019, Costa Rica has earned more than $180 million in sales of surplus energy. We conclude that Costa Rica is leading the forefront in green energy while maximizing their profits to sell to poorer countries to solidify their status as a Latin American powerhouse.

Vanessa Sanchez¹
Faculty Mentor: Kimberly Nehls, Ph.D.^1
1Lee Business School, Department of Marketing and International Business

ABSTRACT
Japan is widely known for their advancement in technology. One main use of technology in Japan is the frequent use of vending machines. They have a vending machine for just about anything, from the normal food and beverage to cigarettes and alcohol. In this research, there will be a further analysis of the many types of vending machines that are available in Japan. Specifically focusing on the vending machines that sell beyond the normal food and beverage. The main point will be to provide further detailed data for the uniqueness of usage of vending machines in japan.

John Santos¹
Flavia Nava²
Khashi Khorrami¹
Jonathan Bronsoiler Mac²
Faculty Mentor: Kimberly Nehls, Ph.D.^2
1Lee Business School, Department of Finance
²Lee Business School, Department of Marketing and International Business

ABSTRACT
Poverty is a global phenomenon characterized by people who live on US$1.25 daily. The universal call to action to end poverty is the foundation of the development agenda both nationally and globally. In accordance with the worldwide commitment toward the Sustainable Development Goals, the Philippine government has established the Philippine Development Plan that aims to build a stronger foundation for inclusive growth and by improving trade policies to stimulate a globally competitive knowledge economy. The Philippine government has to consider the critical dynamics in poverty in public policy and as well as expand the limitations of its assessments. Since the measurement of poverty can only be determined ex post, public interventions are only directed at those who are identified as poor. The vulnerability to poverty pertains to the risk to future poverty, thus trapping them in a cycle that diminishes capital from one generation to another. This study involves previous research that include estimates of vulnerability level of households to income poverty sourced from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, as well as the Philippines’ official poverty lines. Several interventions have been established to alleviate poverty, such as the conditional money transfer, foreign aid, and as well as entrepreneurship. That so, results have indicated that entrepreneurship is effective in increasing the probability of alleviating poverty, thereby remaining above the impoverished threshold. The study makes a case on the Philippine government’s implication on creating income stabilization schemes to address poverty, and to come up with differentiated proposals for those highly vulnerable.

Ava R. Platt¹
Ryan A. Wirt¹
Amanda M. Leisgang²
Emmanuel Flores¹
Lauren Crew¹
Jefferson W. Kinney, Ph.D.²
Faculty Mentor: James M. Hyman, Ph.D.^1
1College of Liberal Arts, Department of Psychology
²School of Integrated Health Sciences, Department of Brain Health

ABSTRACT
Memory acquisition and encoding are modulated by neural network activity between the hippocampus (HPC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Research has shown that neuroimmune defense cells, glia, interact with neurons in both brain regions. However, little is known about glial-neuronal interactions, and how these interactions affect memory network activity and in turn, memory recall. Memory network activity involves a host of cellular excitation and inhibition. The primary neurotransmitter involved in inhibition is γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and receptors for this neurotransmitter can also be found on microglia. To better understand glial-neuronal interactions between the HPC and PFC, we utilized a mouse model (GABABFlox) with a knockdown of GABAB receptors on microglia, to alter microglial activity. Our lab utilizes electrophysiological recordings of neuronal activity related to learning and memory in the HPC and PFC. Mice were implanted with 64-channel implants to record from single cells and local field potentials (LFPs) while completing a conditioned place preference task to measure remote recall. Results showed that GABABFlox mice had remote recall (18days) deficits but intact recent recall (1day). We also found that GABABFlox mice had changes in multiple electrophysiological signals associated with memory processing, including: decreased gamma power in the HPC, impairments in theta-gamma comodulation in the cortex, theta and delta hypersynchrony between the HPC and cortex, and fewer sharp-wave ripples in the HPC. These findings suggest that GABAergic signaling on microglia may facilitate neural network systems involved in memory formation and recall, and that alterations in microglia may impair functions necessary for memory formation.