eSTEAMed Scholars Volume 1

JOURNAL
Volume 1, May 2015
E STEAM ED
SCHOLARS
2015
a journal for student work
Editor: Dr. Catherine Anderson

Assistant Editor: Dr. Jennifer McQueen
Reviewers
Dr. Jane OHara
Austin Wang
Alan Shapiro
Yoyo Ding
Natascia Tamburello
Andrew Lin
Susan Vickers
Lauren Dobischok
Amanda Zimmerman
Carol He
Louis Lu
Dant Wong
Sarah Fletcher
Alice Man
Sam Kaser
Parker Wieck
Jenny Wang
Lasya Vankayala
Mindy Lin
Jessica Li
Thank You to our Future Science Leaders Supporters

The 2014-2015 Future Science Leaders program could not have happened without the generous support of the following
donors. The funding from this passionate group of community leaders has allowed us to provide our students an enriching
exploration of their chosen science-related paths, coaching them to become leaders in research and innovation.
PNG Enterprise Foundation
Wertz Family Foundation
Jenny Drake & Mike Cormack
Anonymous
Craft Geeks
ESTEAMED Scholars
- Volume 1 - May 2015
CONTENTS
1
Welcome to our first issue
Year 3
Author Biographies - year 3
A Survey of Eclipsing Binaries

Louis Lu
Those Pesky Beads? A look at plastic

microbead pollution
Sarah Fletcher
11 A Summary of the Anatomical,

Metabolic, and Ecological Factors Influencing Coral Skeleton Structure
Sam Kaser
14 Effects of Social Media on Sociability
Jenny Wang
19 The Efficacy of Probiotics on Allergies
and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and
Reasons for Inconsistency in Some
Effects
Mindy Lin
23 Year 2 - Research
24 Author Biographies - Research
25 Development of a Novel Procedure
to Identify Genes with Roles in Power
Output of Exoelectrogenic Bacteria in
Microbial Fuel Cells
Austin (Han Jie) Wang
31 Inmeshtigation: Comparison of Water
Vapour Collection of Three Stainless
Steel Mesh Sizes
Yoyo Ding
E-STEAM-ED Scholars - Volume 1 - May 2015
35 A Heart of Gold: Effective Visual

Fundraising by Phrasing Statistics and
Using Empathetic Images
Andrew Lin
40 The Key-wi to Health: Measuring How
Ripeness Affects Vitamin C Content in
Kiwi Fruit
Lauren Dobischok
43 The Effect of UV Light on Bacteria
Isolated from Danone Activia Yogurt
Jastina Aujla
47 Year 2 - Engineering
48 Author Biographies - Engineering
49 Miss Universe: Integration of Soft
Circuitry into Dress of an Artistic
Fashion
Carol He
51 Harvesting Waste Energy from Water
Hammers
Dant Wong
58 Creating an Interactive First Aid
Tutorial
Alice Man
60 Motorizing a Dobsonian Reflector
Telescope Mount
Hallie Jones
62 Detection of Nerve Activity in the
Biceps Brachii to Control Motor
Activity
Parker Wieck
Aim
of ESTEAMED Scholars
STEAM Scholars showcases the inquiry-based projects done by students in the second and third years of Science Worlds
E
ED
Future Science Leaders program in Vancouver, BC. Preparing their work for publication gives students the opportunity to
participate in the scientific publication and peer review processes that are not usually available to high school or undergraduate researchers.
The name was chosen to highlight specific aspects of the program and the publication.
ESTEAMED
STEAM was chosen for the name to reflect the variety of student projects. STEAM is an acronym for the
fields of study describing science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.
Scholars This is student-driven work and writing. They have had expert mentors but the final project has been left for
the students to finish to the best of their abilities and desires.
Submission Process
The submission process for ESTEAMED scholars closely resembles the submission process of academic science journals.
The dialogue that is created around the manuscripts serves to improve both the written work and the understanding of the
scientific process.
Students submitted their written work, which was critically reviewed by both their peers and scientists involved with the FSL
program. Upon receiving feedback, each student revised their manuscript and composed a letter to the editor of ESTEAMED
Scholars explaining their changes. The students manuscripts were then examined for resolution of the reviewers concerns.
In some cases, there may have been one additional round of review and revision.
About
Future Science Leaders
Future Science Leaders helps students further develop the talent, drive, and discipline needed to excel in science and technology. Similar to excellence programs in high performance sports, students are increasingly supported and challenged.
Students learn essential skills, meet science experts and innovators and apply their new knowledge and skills.
At weekly meetings, students participate in innovative learning and skill building activities after being introduced to scientific research, academic theory and industry opportunities. Students also connect with a powerful peer network of some of the
Lower Mainlands most talented students.
The Future Science Leaders program was initially conceived as a talent incubator to provide gifted students an opportunity to engage with university-level topics and activities otherwise unavailable at home or school. Science World launched
the program in 2011 and it is now in its third year. This competitive nine-month program attracts exceptional grade 10 to 12
students who are insatiably curious, eager for a challenge, and willing to take risks while exploring new ideas and technologies.
Future Science Leaders is a multi-year program. Students must enter in the Discover year and then half of those students
subsequently participate in the Innovate year.
Discover
Year
This first year explores all types of science with multi-week themes of: chemistry, physics, biology, earth and space, math,
and technology. As part of each theme, the students participate in advanced, interactive challenges and interact with
experts in academic research and industry. University fellows and content experts dedicated to science education present
each theme and organize activities and guest speakers to help students engage and get excited about their field.
Innovate
Year
After completing the Discover Year, students can apply to participate in the Research or Engineering streams of the Innovate Year. These options allow students to apply their skills to real world challenges. In the first term, students are taught
skills through guided experiments and projects. In the second term, students complete original projects using these new
skills.
Implement
Year
After completing the Innovate Year, students can apply to participate in Implement Year. This is an opportunity for the
students to research a topic in more depth outside of the constraints of school assignments.
Not only does meeting working scientists and innovative leaders help debunk the typical stereotype of the old, stuy scientist, but it also gives students a glimpse at the wide array of career options that await them in science and technology. Many
of the students enter the program thinking that an interest in biology means that you must be a doctor or that engineers only
build bridges. By December of their first year, students are amazed at all the dierent options available to people who enjoy
science.
Students are also encouraged to take their research projects to science fairs and their design projects to Maker Faire to
increase their participation in real world science events.
ESTEAMED Scholars
Welcome to our first issue

We wanted an opportunity to share the amazing work done by the grade 10 to 12 students in the Future Science Leaders program. We also realized that although many of the students had some experience with parts of being a scientist or engineer
such as developing a hypothesis or analyzing data, they hadnt yet had the opportunity to document and share their work
with a wider audience.
In previous years, we have submitted Future Science Leaders research to peer-reviewed journals and we will continue this
practice. However, there were a lot of original projects that we werent capturing. Therefore, we started this journal.
Writing up your original project for publication for the first time can be eye opening. We included peer review so that every
student read at least two other projects and many students commented that reading someone elses work gave them a new
perspective on their own. I was impressed with the changes that many students made between the first and second drafts of
their papers.
For the first year, we have kept the projects separated by the year of student in program. The details of how the second year
research, second year engineers and third year students developed their projects are found in the introduction to each of the
journals three subsections.
As our first foray into a journal, we also learned several things. For example, the instructors are all published authors and
assumed certain knowledge about scientific papers. We have taken careful notes and will start the process earlier next year
with more explicit instructions. I appreciated the flexibility and excitement of the students in getting this journal ready.
We hope that the ESTEAMED Scholars experience has better prepared the Future Science Leaders for the next time they
publish their work.
Thank you,
Catherine Anderson, PhD
Editor, ESTEAMED Scholars Journal
Year
3
Science World was pleased to oer a third year in the FSL program to five outstanding graduates of the Discover and Innovate years. This third year we call Implement, as it required the students to focus on one idea, similar to an undergraduate
thesis.
One of the hallmarks of this year was freedom. The students were allowed to choose any topic as long as it related to science,
technology, engineering, or math in some way. Students set their own questions instead of having a set rubric and that led to
some interesting discussions.
Students attended sessions every two weeks, giving the students extra time to work on their projects on the week between
sessions. On meeting days, the students met one on one with Dr. Catherine Anderson to discuss progress and the students
also met in a group. During the group meetings, the students presented their work to each other, mimicking a lab meeting
setting.
All of the student projects went to the edge of knowledge about their topics and students handled that in dierent ways.
Some students did experiments but some couldnt experiment due to time, money or expertise constraints. Others found
answers but realized that the answers were too complex for them to understand at this point in their education. And finally,
others changed the focus of their research to make it more manageable.
One of the benefits of meeting in a small group of high achieving grade 12 students from across the Lower Mainland is that
they can discuss university applications and their myriad of choices and scholarships. All five students will be attending excellent programs in schools in Canada and the US.
ESTEAMED Scholars
Author Biographies
Louis Lu
Im Louis Lu from Pinetree Secondary School. Currently in grade 12, I enjoy programming, building, and learning physics. I try to be observant at my surroundings and inquire about what I dont
understand. I like snowboarding and playing tennis, and have just recently started skateboarding.
Sarah Fletcher
Sarah Fletcher is a grade 12 student at Britannia Secondary in Vancouver, planning to study Health
Sciences at a yet-to-be-determined university in the fall. She is particularly intrigued by human
biology and biochemistry, and has recently developed an interest in neuroscience. Sarah is a passionate volunteer with the Canucks Autism Network and a number of other organizations in her
community. In her limited free time, in addition to conducting science experiments in her secret
underground laboratory, she enjoys playing the violin, being a member of a competitive softball
team and frolicking with her puppy, Dexter.
Sam Kaser
My name is Sam Kaser, and Im currently finishing Grade 12 at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary.
This September, I plan on going to Dalhousie and being part of their Integrated Sciences Program.
My life is a product of three fundamental rules, to which everything in it can be traced. They are as
follows:
1) When lost in the wilderness, avoid the white berries.
2) If you havent memorized Gloria Estefans discography, your time in this world is not over.
3) Youre never too young for Botox.
Jenny Wang
Jenny Wang is a grade 12 student at Moscrop Secondary who is currently in Year 3 of Future Science Leaders. Her passion for science has always fuelled her to pursue activities outside of school
such as FSL, science fair projects, conferences, and volunteering. She has explored both engineering and research at FSL to explore all her interest. In the future, she hopes to go into oncology
or health management. She is excited to see where her experiences in university take her!
Mindy Lin
Mindy Lin is a Grade 12 student from Burnaby South Secondary School. To promote her passion in
science, she has been a part of various science organizations and groups in and outside of school.
She has taken on a leadership role by holding a conference, Quantum Leaps, to familiarize high
school girls to future careers in science. She is also involved in her community by being a member
of the Burnaby District Student Advisory Council. She enjoys playing piano and solving logical
puzzles like suduko during her spare time.
ESTEAMED Scholars
A Survey of Eclipsing Binaries

Louis Lu, grade 12, Pinetree Secondary
Binary star systems are formed with two stars revolving around each other. One of the most important aspects of eclipsing
binaries is their light curves because they indicate many intrinsic properties of the stars. Since actual data is too dicult to
obtain, physical and digital experiments were conducted to generate and simulate light curves of binary star systems. Both
methods can eectively generate light curves which resemble that obtained by studying real binary stars, and therefore
provide a means to explore the possible light curves of dierent binary star system structures. Although there are other
nuances, a light curve contains two dips that may vary in depth, and plateaus, reflecting little change in light levels. Analyzing binary star systems is significant to astronomy and cosmology for they create one of the easiest ways to calculate
masses of stars, which leads to many other stellar properties like densities and compositions
Introduction
Studying binary star systems is one of the most important
aspects in astrophysics because binary stars orbits can
directly determine the stars masses easily, which can lead to
estimations of other stellar quantities, like sizes and densities.
Binary star systems consist of two stars revolving around
each other in an elliptical orbit. In a binary system, the
brighter star is usually called the primary star, and the dimmer, the companion (Aitken 1918). Binary star systems often
appear as a single source of light to naked eyes, but many
can be detected by telescopes, in which case they are called
visual binaries. These binary stars usually take hundreds
of years to revolve each other once (a very long period),
making them hard to study. There are also other variants
to binary star systems. For instance, binary stars detected
using spectroscopy are called spectroscopic binaries; they
appear as a single source of light (Giovanelli and Haynes
1986). When spectroscopic binaries revolve around each
other, light from both of the stars experiences the Doppler
Eect , and the shifts in frequency can confirm the presence
of a binary system (Aitken 1918). Also, astrometry can be
used to detect binary stars, and those stars are then called
astrometric binaries. Astrometry involves precise measurements of celestial bodies that are too small or too dim to be
seen. So in astrometric binaries, the small stars presence
can be confirmed by observing the visible stars stellar wobble (Aitken 1918). Finally, eclipsing binaries are two stars
that, from the observers perspective, pass in front of one
another periodically. Eclipsing binaries can include visual,
spectroscopic, and astrometric binaries. Since some light
from one of the binaries is periodically blocked, a light curve
(luminosity plotted against angle of rotation) that reflects the
systems light can be helpful for studying eclipsing binaries,
as explained later (Aitken 1918).
Binary System Type
Properties
Visual binaries
Observed visually through telescopes
Spectroscopic binaries
Red and blue shifts of stars lights indicate the presence of a binary system
Astrometric binaries
Only one star can be observed, but

its wobble suggests another stars
existence
Apart from classifying binaries with means of detecting them,

binaries can also be classified by their distances in between
the stars, relative to their sizes. Detached binaries (Figure 1)
are binary stars where each star is within its Roche lobe. The
Roche lobe is an imaginary region in space surrounding the
center of a star where the stars gravitational pull is strong
enough to keep its material within itself. In a detached binary
system, stars do not interact with each other and revolve
separately. Most binaries belong to this category.
Figure 1: Detached binaries do not aect each other. (Sanders 2014)
Semidetached binaries (Figure 2) are binaries where one of

the stars has expanded out of its Roche lobe (hence masses can escape from that star). That particular star is then
called donor because the gases from that stars surface is
transferred to the other, accreting star. When the masses are
transferring, a tear drop shape forms from the star.
Figure 2: One of the star is aected by the other and forms a teardrop shape. (Eskridge 2003)
Contact binary stars are binary stars where both of the stars
has filled out their Roche lobes, and both stars are transferring masses to each other (Figure 3). Eventually, two stars
would merge into one as their orbits are broken (Voss and
Tauris 2003).
Eclipsing binaries
Two stars eclipse each other periodically

Table 1: Dierent types of binaries.
ESTEAMED Scholars
Figure 3: Both stars aect each other, form teardrop shapes, and
start mass transfer. (Sanders 2014)
These three general dierent configurations aect their light
curves. They can change the shapes of the graph in between

dips. For instance, there are barely any flat lines on the light
curve produced by contact binaries (Figure 4) because the
distance between two stars is so small that one star would
quickly cover the other when it has just been revealed.
Figure 5: Light Meter on the left, and two light bulbs on the right
represent two stars
PART II: Light-Emitting Diodes

To extend the validity of the previous experiment, a second
set of apparatus was used to create similar light curves. In
this experiment, instead of two light bulbs, two LEDs were
used for light sources, and a camera took one picture at
every 10 degree angle increment. Instead of obtaining
brightness in lux directly, colour intensity was extrapolated
from the photos. Relative luminance was used to extract
brightness from colours after averaging the images colours.
The darkness in the background was held constant, again in
a room at night with curtains drawn and doors shut.
PART III: Computer Program
A program was written in Java with JFreeChart external
library to generate the light curves using temperatures and
radii of the two stars. Many properties of the binary system
in this computer simulation were idealized. For example,
two stars were considered to be perfect spheres with a planar circular orbit, that is, when two stars eclipsed, one stars
center would definitely pass anothers.
Figure 4: Light Curve from a contact binary system does not have
clear plateaus between dips. (Richmond 2003)
Light curves are useful tools for analyzing eclipsing binaries.

They indicate many aspects of the binary system and are
one of the most common ways to calculate celestial bodies
masses. To investigate properties of light curves, experiments using incandescent light bulbs, LEDs, and computer
programs are conducted to simulate light curves.
Results
PART I: Incandescent Light Bulbs
Figure 6 was produced by two 25W bulbs 12.3cm away
from each other rotating for two periods in 5 degree increment.
Methods
Part I: Incandescent Light Bulbs
In this setup (Figure 5), two light bulbs varying in size and
brightness were placed on a turn table with angles of
rotation marked. They represented two stars. Also, a light
meter was placed 44cm away from the turntable to act like
a telescope; the light meter returned a value in lux and was
recorded for every increment. The values were then plotted against the angle. These experiments were all done in
a room with curtain drawn and doors shut to keep data as
accurate and consistent as possible.
Figure 6: A 25W bulb 6.6cm away from the center and another 25W
bulb 5.7cm away from the center were placed along the same diameter of the turntable, and with the light meter placed 44cm away
from the turntable,
The luminosity measured by the light meter plotted against

the angle of rotation demonstrates four dips in brightness,
4
ESTEAMED Scholars
and these dips appear around 90, 270, 450, and 630 degrees. These were the angles at which one light bulb covered
another. And in between those points, the graph roughly
resembles a flatter area. Those plateaus indicate that the light
bulbs werent covering each other, but rather side by side.
The next experiment included dierent types of light bulbs.
The following graph (Figure 7) was plotted with one 25W
and one 95W bulb rotating for 1 period with 5 degrees increment. Two bulbs of dierent brightness simulate a binary
system where on star is brighter than the other.
Figure 8: Two LEDs placed close together do not create plateaus in

between dips. First dip occurs at around 80 degrees and the second
occurs at 270 degrees.
Although two dips were still present, at 80 degrees and 270

degrees, the plateaus between the dips were missing. That
happened because when one star appeared completely, it
started to cover the other shortly due to their proximity.
PART III: Computer Program
Figure 7: Light curve of 95W and 25W bulbs. At roughly 90 degrees,
the 95W was covered by the 25W bulb causing the total light level
to drop significantly; at approximately 270 degrees, the 25W bulb
was covered by the 95W bulb so that the total light level only drops
by a bit.
Two dips were still visible, one at 85 degrees and the other
at 270 degrees, but one was much shallower than the other.
This was plausible since at 270 degrees, the 25W bulb, the
dimmer of the two, was covered. Since only a little bit of
light was covered, total light level would not change by a
huge amount. However, when the 95W bulb was covered
at roughly 90 degrees, a significant amount of light was
covered, hence decreasing the total light level by quite a bit,
reflected by a sharp dip in Figure 7. Moreover, compared
with 0 to 180 degrees, the plateau from 180 to 360 degrees looked more like a mountain. Again this was because
that when 95W light bulb moved in front, the light meter
picked much more light from the 95W bulb because they are
much closer.
PART II: Light-Emitting Diodes
The previous two experiments both depicted what

light curves of detached binaries would look like there were
recognizable plateaus. However, for contact binaries, where
two stars would be fairly close to one another, graphs would
look somewhat dierent. One of the best ways to simulate
this was to use LEDs instead of incandescent light bulbs because LEDs are much dimmer so they could produce reasonable light level at a much closer range. In this experiment, the
camera being at a closer distance did not cause significant
problems because the two LEDs were touching each other,
acting like a contact binary system.
Two green LEDs were placed side by side both connected
to 10k resistors powered by 3.3V. They were rotated 10
degrees each time for the camera to take a picture. Every
pictures relative luminance value was plotted against angle
of rotation (Figure 8).
ESTEAMED Scholars
This is a graph (Figure 9) generated with the following parameters: one 7000K star with a radius of 3000 and
another 5000K star with a radius of 4000 (the formula used
is explained later).
Figure 9: A graph generate by the computer program includes two

dips and plateaus.
Eclipses were set at phase 0.25 and 0.75 (a quarter and

three quarters of a rotation respectively) exactly. At phase
0.25, the dip itself contained a plateau. That was because
when a larger star passes in front of the smaller star, the
light level stays the same for a period of time since it would
take the smaller star some time to travel around its larger
counterpart. Another nuance worth noting was that the dip
at phase 0.75 was not sharp, but a rather smooth transition,
unlike some of the experimental results earlier . This was
due to the limb darkening eect. Limb darkening of a star
(Figure 10) dictates that, from one perspective, the rim of
the star would appear darker than the center. This is reasonable since only a bit of light from the edge of the sphere can
reach the observer.
Figure 10: The outer edge of a sphere is darker because of the small
light component from the light gradient vector.
Discussion
In Figure 6, the lines between the curves are not completely
flat, they also have some dents to them. Despite inaccuracies, they are caused by the nature of this experiment. In
real observations, binary stars seen through telescopes are
often millions of light years away, and although two stars are
generally very far away, that distance between two stars is
still insignificant to the distance to the telescope. However,
in this experiment, 12.3cm, the distance between the light
bulbs was comparable to 44cm, the distance that the light
meter was set. What this implied was that when one bulb is
slightly in front, the light level would change accordingly;
that was why some of the plateaus were slightly curved.
One thing to note was that the four dips were similarly deep;
this should make sense since two light bulbs were identical,
both at 25W.
In Figure 8, the dips at around 90 and 270 degrees werent
the only ones; there were other ones at 180 and 0 or 360
degrees. Theoretically, they shouldnt be there. One of
the main dierences between the LED experiment and the
incandescent one was that this used LEDs instead incandescent light bulbs. Unlike light bulbs, filled with noble gases to
radiate the light equally in all directions, LEDs used a piece
of semiconductor to emit light.
From Figure 11, the LED has a
rather plane semiconductor. So
when it rotates to show its thinner
side, light level would reasonably
drop since much of the energy
would be dispersed from its
broader side. And coincidentally,
when the LEDs in this experiment
were side by side, both of their
thinner sides were facing directly
to the camera.
Figure 11: An LED does not
emit light equally to all directions since its diode is fairly
flat. (O Road 2009
6
The algorithm in part III took limb-darkening eect into account. First, the program calculated the light radiated from
the star by applying Stefan-Boltzmann law: L = AT4, where
L was luminance in J/s, was Stefan-Boltzmann constant,
A was the surface area, and T was the temperature. Then
the program analyzed how much light was radiated toward
the observer. Finally, the program needed to know which
face was covered by the other star, and subtracted the light
component of that particular face. And then each value was
plotted on a graph against phase. That was the most dicult
part because spheres are in general quite hard to deal with
because of smooth surfaces. So the program divided those
spheres into slices, and converted each circular slice into
polygons. Then the curved spheres became polyhedrons
with planar faces. Now all the program had to do was to
get the components of light travelling towards the observer
from each face, which is a fraction of the vector quantity.
The three experiments generally showed that one period
of a light curve generally contains two dips and flat areas
in between. The depth of the dips may vary because of the
dierence in stars brightness (as illustrated in Figure 7 and
Figure 9). Eclipsing binaries produce interesting light curves
that could unveil many properties of stars, and their evolutions .
Bibliography
Aitken, Robert Grant. The Binary Stars. New York: New York
[D.C. McMurtrie], 1918. Web.
Eskridge, Paul. Frigg . 2003. 22 Feb. 2015.
Giovanelli, Ricardo and Martha Haynes. Binary Stars. 1986.
Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
O Road. 4 Feb, 2009. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.
Richmond, Michael. The Amateur Sky Survey. 7 May 2003.
Web. 22. Feb 2015.
Sanders, Steve. The Absolute Magnitude. Jan. 2014. Web.
22 Feb. 2015.
Voss, R. and T. M. Tauris. Galactic Distribution of Merging
Neutron Stars and Black Holes Prospects for Short Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitors and LIGO/VIRGO. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Jul. 2003: 1. Web.
___________________________
Spectroscopy involves studies of lights and their wavelengths.
i
The Doppler Eect is the change in frequency of a wave

when either the observer is moving relative to the source.
ii
Wobble of a star is when the stars position is changed by

another significantly small star, changing the bigger stars
position just by a bit, as if the stars wobbling side to side.
This usually happens when the center of mass falls inside the
wobbling star.
iii
iv
The SI unit of illuminance and luminous emittance.
Relative luminance is based on the idea that human eyes

are more sensitive to certain colour of lights than others. For
v
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example, according to the formula Y = 0.2126 R + 0.7152 G

+ 0.0722 B, we are most sensitive to green light, but least to
blue.
The program and its source code can be downloaded at:
http://goo.gl/gLPg8z
vi
The radii here did not have units because all the measurements in the program were relative to each other, except
temperature, which was in kelvin.
vii
ESTEAMED Scholars
For example, results from Figure 7 demonstrate the dip

looks really sharp because only a few points were plotted
because one bulb quickly passed another. However, Figure
8 shows smooth dips because many points were plotted
during the eclipse.
viii
A stars mass is very important to determine its evolution

because the stars internal nuclear reaction energy is supposed to balance its tendency to collapse. So when the nuclear energy runs out, the star collapses into itself by gravity.
ix
Those Pesky Beads? A look at plastic microbead pollution

Sarah Fletcher, grade 12, Britannia Secondary
In the past 5 years, it has been brought to light that plastic microbeads used in cosmetic products are not eectively being
filtered out by waste water treatment plants and as a result, are ending up in aquatic environments, including lakes and
oceans. The presence of microplastics in marine ecosystems will have detrimental impacts on organisms in aected areas
as their small size makes them easily absorbed. This problem is compounded when the ability of the microbeads to adsorb
chemicals is considered. This will further pollute the ecosystem and result in an accumulation of plastics and toxins in marine
organisms, eventually making their way into the human diet. Action to stop this pollution has begun to be taken, such as
introducing legislation to ban the sale of products containing microplastics and campaigns to educate consumers about the
impacts microbeads are having on the environment.
If one owns an exfoliating face wash, there is a good chance
that it contains plastic microbeads; tiny beads of plastic
that are used in a variety of cosmetic products including
face washes, body washes, and toothpaste. Designed to
be washed down the drain with their product after use,
most people would not think twice about them; however, in
recent years it has come to light that these tiny beads might
be having a much bigger impact than just clean skin.
What are plastic microbeads?
Microplastics is a broad term describing pieces of plastic
in the environment with a diameter of 5mm or less. Plastic
microbeads (which for the purpose of this paper, will refer
to those used in cosmetics), a type of microplastic, are very
small beads of plastic, usually between 10um and 1000um,
or 1mm, in diameter (figure 1).
Figure 1: A diagram depicting the size of a 1.0mm microbead in

comparison to the size of a penny.
Plastic microbeads are most commonly made of out of

polyethylene, (C2H4)nH2, which is a common plastic used
in a variety of products, including grocery bags and plastic
water bottles.
Figure 2: A diagram showing the structure of
polyethylene. The n symbolizes the various
number of pairs of carbon atoms that could
be included in the chain1.
Plastic microbeads are used in a number of dierent products, primarily in face and body washes as they provide an
easy way to exfoliate the skin, removing dead skin cells and
other dirt from the skin. As well, they can also be added to
products, such as toothpastes, to help give the product colour, improving its visual appeal. Adding plastic microbeads
to cosmetic products has been approved by Health Canada
because they do not pose any health risks when used externally2. However, what if these beads find their way into the
environment, where they potentially absorb toxins and find
their way back into the human diet?
Why are they a problem?
A recent study3 showed an average concentration of
43,000 pieces of microplastic per square kilometer in the
Laurentian Great Lakes. Because the plastic microbeads
found in cosmetic products are usually less than 1mm
in diameter, waste water treatment plants are unable to
filter them out3, resulting in the plastic microbeads being
leached into the bodies of waters that the waste treatment
plants drain into. Microbeads have also been found in
marine sediments; their deposition into the sediment occurs
due to a film forming on the surface of the beads and that
they can form together as clusters in water4, increasing
their mass and causing them to sink. A study which sampled
sediment from the St. Laurence River in Quebec5, found
a median of 52 microbeads per cubic meter over all of
the sites sampled. One site in particular had a microbead
concentration of 136 926 83 947 microbeads per cubic
meter. No specific reason was suggested for such a large
accumulation of microbeads at this site was suggested,
however the studied mentioned that the distribution of
microbeads is likely aected by the same factors that aect
how sediment is deposited, such as shoreline topography
and water currents5,6. Finding microbeads in the sediment
suggests that they are in fact able to accumulate in certain
locations, depending on the surrounding environmental
factors, such as the speed of water current in that area; for
example, a fast-moving river would not likely have much
accumulation whereas a lake might have more6. Over time,
this would increase their concentration in that area, greatly
polluting those areas and having negative impacts on the
surrounding ecosystem.
The presence of plastic microbeads in the marine environment poses a couple of dierent issues, beginning with the
uptake of these beads by aquatic organisms. The size of the
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microbeads makes them look very similar to food sources

for a number of organisms, including fish, crabs and aquatic
worms7, so they would mistakenly ingest them. Thus, in
addition to the issue posed by organisms consuming plastic
as that is not a part of their normal diet, the concern here
would be that, as shown in a study on a group of Baltic Sea
zooplankton species and their food chains8, they are taken
up by small organisms, and accumulate up the food chain similar to the high levels of PCBs in orcas9- reaching harmful
levels in higher up organisms, such as the fish and other
aquatic organisms that are part of the human diet.
This issue is further compounded when you take into consideration the ability of plastic to adsorb dierent chemicals.
The ocean normally has levels of a variety of dierent pollutants, such as pesticides, oil and chemical fertilizers, however the plastic microbeads are able to hang on, or adsorb,
to these some of these chemicals due to the hydrophobic
nature of both plastic and the chemicals in the water of the
ocean10, 11.While it might seem like this would decrease
the concentration of pollutants in the ocean, the pollutants
themselves still exist as they have only attached on to the
surface of the microbead and concentration could actually
be increased should microbeads build up in certain locations, such as sediment or lakes. Also, as marine organisms
are ingesting the microbeads, the chemicals and toxins the
microbeads are carrying would be transferred to the organism10, 11. Another study, published in 201312, showed that
microplastics carrying toxins and chemicals moved those
substances to the tissues of lugworms via their digestive
system. Although the exact mechanism of this transfer is
not known, it is suggested that digestion chemical and the
internal environment of the organisms could contribute to
the release of chemical pollutants from the microplastics,
allowing the organism to absorb them10,11. This negatively impacts the organism and would cause chemicals to
accumulate up the food chain8,10, and the concentration
of pollutants in marine food sources, such as fish, shellfish,
etc. would increase. This would have negative health eects
on humans should the organisms be consumed, similar to
the results of the accumulation of mercury in tuna13, as the
pollutants would be ingested as the organism is ingested.
This could cause an array of problems, including leading to
humans being unable to consume many marine organisms.
What is being done about the problem?
The issues surrounding microbeads and their presence in
the environment have only been brought up in recent years,
and mostly within the last 5 years or so. As more research
is done showing the amounts of microbeads in bodies
of water around the world and their potential impacts,
movements are emerging to stop the usage of plastic
microbeads in cosmetic products. One of the most prominent campaigns is the Beat the Microbead Group which
is lobbying companies to stop using microbeads in their
products, and also encouraging consumers to not purchase
products with microbeads in them14. A couple of countries
are also starting to ban the use of microbeads in cosmetic
products, including the Netherlands, which has pledged
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to be free of microbeads by 201615 and a number of states

in the US, including Illinois, which became the first state to
introduce legislation that will ban the use of microbeads in
products; this legislation will come into eect in 201816. As
well, Environment Canada2 has begun an investigation into
the impacts microbead pollution will have on human and
environmental health.
References
Beat the Microbead. Beat the Microbead. Beat the Microbead.org. Plastic Soup Foundation, 2015. Web. 21 Feb.
215.
Castaneda, Rowshyra A., Suncica Avlijas, Anouk Sinard, and
Anthony Riccardi.
Microplastic Pollution in St. Lawrence River Sediments.
Canadian Journal of
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 71 (2014): 1-5. NRC Research
Press. Canadian Science Publishing, 2014. Web. 17 Nov.
2014.
Cone, Marla. Poisoned Killer Whales? Blame Salmon. Scientific American. Nature America, Inc., 20 Jan. 2009. Web.
21 Apr. 2015.
Corley, Cheryl. Why Those Tiny Microbeads In Soap May
Pose Problem For Great Lakes. NPR News. Npr, 24 May
2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2015.
Eriksen, Marcus., et al. Microplastic Pollution in the Surface
Waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Marine Pollution Bulletin 77 (2013): 177-82. Elsevier. RELX Group, 2013. Web.
21 Jan. 2015.
Goodman, Lee-Anne. Environment Canada to Study Perils
of Plastic Microbeads. CTVNews. The Canadian Press, 24
Mar. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Health Canada. Mercury in Fish- Questions and Answers.
Health Canada. The Government of Canada, 25 Jan. 2011.
Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Hildebrandt, Amber. Push to Ban Plastic Microbeads from
Facial Scrubs Gains Momentum. CBCnews. CBC/Radio
Canada, 11 June 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
Magmar452. Polyethylene Repeat Unit. Digital image. Polyethylene. Wikipedia Creative Commons, 11 May 2014. Web.
3 Apr. 2015.
Mato, Y., et al. Plastic Resin Pellets as a Transport Medium
for Toxic Chemicals in the Marine Environment. Environmental Science and Technology 2nd ser. 15.35 (2001): 31824. PubMed. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Setala, Outi, Vivi Fleming-Lehtinen, and Maiju Lehtiniemi.
Ingestion and Transfer of Microplastics in the Planktonic
Food Web. Environmental Pollution 185 (2014): 77-83.
Science Direct. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
Teuten, Emma L., et al. Potential for Plastics to Transport
Hydrophobic Contaminants. Environmental Science and
Technology 41.22 (2007): 7759-764. ACS Publications.
Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
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Teuten, Emma L., et al. Transport and Release of Chemicals

from Plastics to the Environment and to Wildlife. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Publishing Society B 364.1526
(2009): n. pag.Philosophical Transactions B. The Royal Publishing Society, 15 June 2009. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
Van Cauwenbehrg, Lisbeth, Anne Vanreusel, Jan Mees,
and Colin R. Janssen. Microplastic Pollution in Deep-sea
Sediments. Environmental Pollution 182 (2013): 495-99.
Science Direct. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
Wright, Stephanie L., Richard C. Thompson, and Tamara S.
Galloway. The Physical Impacts of Microplastics on Marine
Organisms: A Review. Environmental
Pollution 178 (2013): 483-92.Science Direct. Elsevier, 2013.
Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
10
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A Summary of the Anatomical, Metabolic, and Ecological Factors Influencing

Coral Skeleton Structure
Sam Kaser, grade 12, Sir Winston Churchill Secondary
Coral skeletons are comprised primarily of a very dense form of calcium carbonate known as aragonite. The development
of this skeleton is fundamentally the product of the pattern of aragonite deposition, which is aected by the activity of zooxanthallae and the presence and amino acid sequence of proteins called organic matrices. Coral shape is also a product of
budding patterns and environmental influences. There is still much research to be done into the subject of factors aecting
coral skeletal shape.
Introduction
Coral skeletons exist in many forms, and the factors that
determine their shape remain mysterious. Scleractinia, or
colonial stony corals, are marine organisms that live primarily in tropical regions. They are comprised of three main
components: the polyp itself, the reefs skeleton, and a
basal plate joining the two together (Figure 1). The calcium
carbonate is deposited in the form of aragonite (Goldberg
2013), which is less chemically stable but more dense than
the more common form calcite (Figure 2) (Goldberg 2013).
The rate and pattern of coral growth can vary between coral
species (Falini et al. 2013). Coral skeletons can dier greatly
structurally (Figure 3) due to the variations in the biochemistry, anatomy, and environment of the polyp colony. Biochemical factors aecting skeleton growth mostly concern
the precipitation of calcium carbonate and the transport of
necessary reagents. Relevant anatomical variations include
the role of budding and polyp distributions, and abiotic and
biotic ecological factors can influence the pattern of coral
growth as well.
Figure 2. Crystal structures of aragonite and calcite. Aragonites

prismatic geometry allows for the formation of a more compact
skeletal lattice than calcite would.
Corals growth is a balance between extension, or increase

in length, and accretion, or increase in density (Goldberg
2013). As a result, coral growth can be measured by increase in dimensions, mass, or density.
Figure 3. Various Scleractinian Shapes (from Coral Identification:

Types of Corals (Part 1-Hard Coral) 2010). Left to right, top to
bottom: staghorn coral, pillar coral, table coral, brain coral, blue
coral, great star coral, elkhorn coral.
Chemical Reactions Influencing Coral Growth
Figure 1. Lateral Cross-Section of a Colonial Scleractinian (taken

from NOAA n.d.)
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Calcification in Scleractinia is controlled by a variety of

factors. Coral calcification is referred to as biologically
controlled mineralization, wherein a mineral is precipitated
in a highly regulated manner. While there is a large body of
indirect evidence to suggest that the calicodermis cellular activity plays a primary role in biologically controlled
calcification, the specific details of the mechanism by which
11
this deposition operates are heavily debated (Goldberg 2013). The general process, however, can be described by Figure
2 below. Experimentation suggests that zooxanthallae - symbiotic algae living within the polyps calicodermis - play an
important role in calcification. On cloudy days, calcification can decrease by up to 50% (Goldberg 2013).
Figure 4. Metabolic Processes of Calcification (adapted from Goldberg 2013)
I The enzyme Ca-ATPase exchanges protons within the calicodermis for calcium ions from seawater inside the coelenteron.
II Zooxanthallae facilitate the calcification process by storing
and releasing excess carbon dioxide through photosynthesis
and cellular respiration.
III Carbonic anhydrase catalyses the hydrolysis of carbon dioxide into sodium bicarbonate and a proton. See Figure 5 for
carbonic anhydrases mechanism.
IV Bicarbonate undergoes equilibrium shift and is transported

to the organic matrix:
V This mechanism is essentially irreversible, so the previous

equilibria are also driven forward as their products are consumed. Calcium carbonate is precipitated onto the organic
matrix:
It has been suggested that photosynthesis enhances calcification by absorbing carbon dioxide (Goldberg 2013). This
carbon dioxide storage would still permit the formation of
carbonate ions while also limiting the acidification of the
environment by the dissociation of excess carbon dioxide.
Zooxanthallae may also secrete organic compounds which
catalyze calcification (Goldberg 2013), and photosynthesis
also supplies oxygen for the abundant mitochondria of the
calicodermis, which produce the ATP necessary for Ca-ATPase to transport ions into and out of the polyp (Goldberg
2013).
Organic matrices are weakly acidic proteins which regulate
the structure, growth rate, and type of crystal precipitated
during calcification (Goldberg 2013). The hydrogen ions
produced by the acidic groups on the protein are pumped
out through the gastrodermis by Ca-ATPase and are then
replaced by calcium ions.
Anatomical Factors Influencing Coral Growth
Within coral reefs, polyp reproduction occurs primarily by
budding, which asexually produces genetically identical
polyps. Depending on the budding pattern, dierent coral
shapes can result (Goldberg 2013). The budding pattern
and corresponding reef structure aects colony integration,
which is the extent to which polyps are physically and physiologically connected (Goldberg 2013).
Budding can be divided into intratentacular and extratentacular budding. Intratentacular budding is budding that
takes place on the tentacles of individual polyps. Polyps
are usually joined together to form a continuous chain of
mouths and body walls (Goldberg 2013). Intratentacular
Figure 5. Carbonic Anhydrase Catalytic Mechanism (from Ahern, n.d.) budding traditionally gives rise to a meandroid, or brain
12
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coral structure (Goldberg 2013). Alternatively, the daughter polyps may separate entirely and appear as though they
were produced by extracellular budding (Goldberg 2013),
which is where budding occurs in an area other than the
tentacles (Goldberg 2013).
Environmental Factors Influencing Coral Growth
Hydrological and external biotic agents can aect coral
shape. Scleractinians are considered frame-building reef
organisms, or organisms that provide a rigid three- dimensional structure for other species to take shelter in or attach
to (Goldberg 2013). Shallow corals are subject to the energy
of waves, which can erode the reef. Reefs of greater porosity
are more vulnerable to erosion, as the movement of water
molecules into small spaces increases the pressure to which
the reef is subjected.
Over time, however, reef porosity decreases by a variety
of processes. Algal sediments, mollusc shells, and other
debris forms sedimentary fill, which deposits in gaps in the
reef of various sizes (Goldberg 2013). Various biological
cementing agents also form sheets of carbonate deposits by
various means: some cyanobacteria form sticky secretions
which bind broken pieces of carbonate skeleton and shell,
for example (Goldberg 2013). The deeper pores of the reef
become filled with an internal cement of magnesium calcite,
though this process is poorly understood (Goldberg 2013).
It has been observed that the magnesium calcite is found
deeper in higher-energy coasts, and it is suspected that a
biological agent is responsible for its production (Goldberg
2013).
Discussion
Investigating patterns of coral distribution in dierent ecosystems may reveal certain functional properties of dierent
calcification patterns, should any exist. It may be significant,
for example, to examine the distribution of corals within
higher and lower- energy areas of a reef. Experiments could
also be conducted in controlled conditions to investigate
the comparative ability of colonies of dierent shapes to
resist erosion, catch prey, and support populations of beneficial species
Controlled experiments could also be used to investigate
the roles of isolated factors in the establishment of colony
form. Assuming the deposition of magnesium calcites occurs at a measurable rate, the rate of production by isolated
coral samples could be measured. Another possible avenue
would be to attempt to isolate the organic matrices of dierent coral species from the calicodermis and immerse them in
a calcium nitrate solution. After calcium ions have bound to
the anionic amino acids, sodium carbonate could be added
to the solution. The pattern of precipitation that occurs on
matrices of dierent amino acid sequence could shed light
on their eect on skeleton formation.
Further investigation of the factors discussed in this paper
could have meaningful implications in a variety of fields.
An increased understanding of the interactions between
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coral and zooxanthallae could reveal means of preventing

bleaching by thermal stress and ocean acidification. There
is already burgeoning research into engineering strategies
for reef conservation, such as the recent innovation of using
low- voltage electrical stimulation to increase reef growth
and survival rates (Goreau 2014) An increased understanding of organic matrices could have medical implications,
as Type 4 matrices exist in human bone as well (Goldberg
2013).
Calcification is controlled by numerous genes, many of
which are as of yet unknown, though convergent evolution
has produced similar morphologies between phylogenetically distant species (Wirshing and Baker 2014). This
might suggest that relatively few genes are responsible for
primarily determining skeletal shape or that shape dierent
structures are favoured in dierent ecosystems. The holistic
nature of this papers subject makes it dicult to isolate the
significance of each individual factor in determining colony
structure.
Conclusion
The structure of coral colonies is the product of the polyps
chemical structures and processes interacting with the surrounding ecosystem. Though corals can take diverse forms,
successful reef formation should logically be the result of
extension and accretion outstripping erosion. Structural variation between coral species could be the result of
genetic drift, but the diversity may alternatively suggest that
distinct patterns of carbonate deposition are favoured or
facilitated dierently in dierent ecosystems. Scleractinian
skeletal formation is fundamentally responsible for one of
the planets most important and vulnerable ecosystems, yet
it is understood only superficially.
References
Ahern, Kevin. Catalytic Strategies Outline. Oregon State.
Oregon State University, n. d. Web. 2015.
Coral Identification: Types of Corals (Part 1-Hard Coral).
AquaViews Online Scuba Magazine. 2010.
Coral Anatomy and Structure. NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program. NOAA, n.d. Web. 2015.
Falini, G; et al. Control of aragonite deposition in colonial
corals by intra-skeletal macromolecules. Journal of Structural Biology. Volume 183. Issue 2 (2013): 22638.
Goldberg, Walter M. The Biology of Reefs and Reef Organisms. London: University of Chicago Press, 2013. Print.
Goreau, Thomas J. Electrical Stimulation Greatly Increases Settlement, Growth, Survival, and Stress Resistance of
Marine Organisms. Natural Resources.Volume 5 (2014):
527-37.
Wirshing, HH; Baker, AC. Molecular evolution of calcification genes in morphologically similar but phylogenetically
unrelated scleractinian corals. US National Library of !
Medicine. Volume 77 (2014): 281-95.
13
Effects of Social Media on Sociability

Jenny Wang, grade 12, Moscrop Secondary
Social media has evolved in the last decade to become an essential aspect of everyday life. Its purpose is to help people
keep in touch with others. Since social medias rise, there has been controversy regarding and whether or not it has made
people more social. This paper discusses how social media actually causes people to be less social by believing that online
contact is sucient in keeping in touch with others. Because the majority of people only consistently talk to people they are
very close with, sociability decreases with decreases in life satisfaction levels. Additionally, many negative eects of social
media such as cyber bullying has decreased sociability. Because studies have only been conducted on Facebook, I wanted
to see if results diered when it comes to other popular social media sites. I was able to compare dierences in between
genders and results of respondents online versus in person.
Introduction
When Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, he said, At
Facebook, we build tools to help people connect with the
people they want and share what they want, and by doing this we are extending peoples capacity to build and
maintain relationships (Smith, 2012). Social media helps
people keep in touch with others that they might have lost
contact with. However, many people rely on social media
as a way to find out what their friends and family are doing,
rather than take the time to meet and have a face to face
conversation. Since the rise of social media and the vast uses
of popular sites such as Facebook, there has been controversy regarding the reality of the purpose of social media,
and whether or not it has made people more social. Here,
sociability is defined as a personality trait, the ability to be
fond of the company of others, people who are sociable are
inclined to seek out the opportunity of social contact with
others (Psychology Wiki). This paper will discuss the positives and negatives of social media, a few studies that have
made conclusions on sociability due to social media, as well
as the results of a social media survey.
The main advantage of social media is that it makes people
more social because you are now in contact with people
at all times of the day. It is also very easy to contact anyone
at any time of day, with the press of a few keys. However, a
person is only social if you actively post or message people
(Stelzner, 2014). Moreover, most people only message
those that they constantly talk to. The rest of their online
friends are just those that they observe activity on. This then
takes away direct contact with friends that a person only observes activity on. For those that are more observers, social media withdrawal them from direct contact with others
by not conversing face to face and may produce loneliness.
A study conducted by the University of Michigan shows
the result of increased use of Facebook on life satisfaction
levels (Kross et al, 2013). The experiment was done by text
messaging people certain questions about how they were
feeling at random times five times a day for two weeks to
find out the eects of Facebook on two components of subjective well-being. These two components are: how people feel moment-to-moment and how satisfied they are with
their lives. Through the ranking given on the questions,
results were analyzed and compared to the Satisfaction With
Life Questionnaire (Deiner et al, 1985). The University of
Michigan study was then able to conclude that life satisfac14
tion levels declined over time as well as loneliness increase

with more Facebook usage. Furthermore, direct social
interaction in person did not predict changes in cognitive
well-being. The data collected on interactions with other
people showed a decline in direct contact with others (Kross
et al, 2013). Therefore due to lower life satisfaction levels,
sociability decreases. It could be also possible that people
go online as a result of a decrease in sociability. However, no
studies have been conducted on this.
Another main purpose of social media is that it maintains relationships. However, similar to making people more social,
a person is only connected with those they reach out to. Research conducted by authors of Crucial Conversations found
that many conversations online aect relationships in person
due to the fact that people are generally less polite online.
Seventy six percent of people have witnessed an argument
online and 19 percent have decreased direct contact with a
person due to conversations that occurred online (Grenny,
2013). The study gives multiple examples of family rifts and
violent eects of social media in the work place because
many online disputes are more likely to be left unresolved
due to the fact that it is necessary to respond online. Also,
the study found that there was less emotionally challenging conversations held online. This is because faces give
feedback where you can see a persons response without
words and provide an immediate response (Grenny, 2013).
If there was a decrease in in-person contact, then peoples
relationships would definitely be harmed because a person
wouldnt know these important events.
Social media can be a great resource for many people for
communication and businesses for marketing, however
there are multiple disadvantages to social media usage.
Due to certain images seen or interactions on social media,
there can be a variety of psychological and health problems
associated with spending too much time on social media
(Sharma, 2015). There could also be a reduction in productivity where many people actually decrease the amount of
in person interaction with others. This is when social media
serves as a distraction and this distraction could also take
time away from work or any tasks. Excessive time spent on
social media sites can create withdrawal symptoms in some
people. People retreat from actual interaction with others
and become consumed in just scrolling on these sites. This
could be due to a majority of students being incredibly
addicted to social media as conducted from a study done
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by the University of Maryland. Another eect of social media

would be time taken away from regular recreational or social
activities. Many addicts substitute much of close interactions with family and friends with virtual communication.
Furthermore, many people are influenced by what others
post on social media. Because much of what is posted is the
best version of oneself, a similar eect of feeling depressed
or unsatisfied with ones life due to the media or celebrity
ads occurs. Some people even experience lower self esteem
or become more lonely when seeing others posts, number
of followers, or perceived supportiveness from their online
friends. (Sharma, 2015) Finally, a major problem of social
media is that anyone can say anything even anonymously,
which generates huge issues such as mental abuse regarding cyber bullying.
Other Social Media Sites
I will be conducting a survey in order to analyze and encompass all forms of social media. The following will be some
market research on the dierent types of social media to
introduce the other sites. It would be interesting to see if the
results of sociability and life satisfaction would be the same
for other types of sites. The types include: Facebook which
is written posts that could be accompanied by pictures,
purely picture based such as Instagram or Snapchat, and
mostly just written which would be Twitter or career based
like Linkedin. Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, and Twitter are
the four largest social media platforms, respectively. However, in terms of engagement, the top four are Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. In a study by Contently (Libert,
2014), these stats are generated based on the number of
shares and active sharers there are.
When looking at emotional preferences based on the form
of sharing, the most positive sites are Pinterest and Linkedin.
This could be because people use Linkedin to showcase
themselves in a positive manner for potential employers and
Pinterest generally shares more happy material. Therefore, it can be inferred that sites that do not have areas to
give negative feedback would increase sociability, such as
on Linkedin where people use this to connect with others
in a career-oriented approach. Twitter and Google+ generated an even distribution of emotions. This was surprising
because many people are quite verbal on Twitter, but overall
the negative comments do balance out with the positive.
On Twitter and Google+, it can be assumed from the data
taken that sociability in terms of actively pursuing social contact with others is aected on a per person basis because
it could be all negative for one dispute and end that relationship, or it could be very positive. Lastly, it is found that
the most neutral and negative site is Facebook. Shares are
neutral from articles of top online publishers like BuzzFeed,
ViralNova, and Upworthy. However, when these articles are
removed, the majority of shares are negative (Libert, 2014).
This is similar to the results found in the discussion from the
University of Michigan.
This figure depicts the emotional sentiment of shared articles on

certain social media sites explained in the above section. (taken
from Fractl, 2014)
Survey
Due to social media being a recent phenomenon in the past
decade, there have been very few studies done on sociability. Therefore, only studies revolving around Facebook were
discussed in the introduction. I want to find out more about
other social media sites and its eects on sociability, young
people from dierent schools were surveyed about their
social media usage as well as an open survey conducted
online.
Materials and Methods
The demographic for this survey is focused on young adults
because the majority of users on social media are from the
ages 13 to 25 (Brodzky, 2014).
The following survey was given to random people in person
as well as online. The survey was given on a piece of paper
for people to fill out or via a link online. The following questions were asked:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
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How old are you? (0-12, 13-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-54,

54+)
What gender do you identify with? (male, female, other)
Do you use social media? (yes/ no)
Do you use social media to keep in touch with friends?
(yes/ no)
How much time per 24 hour day do you spend on social
media? (0-1 hour, 1-2 hours, 3-5 hours, 5+ hours)
When do you spend the most time on social media? (6 11:59 am, 12 - 5 pm, 5 - 11:59 pm, 12 - 6 am)
Which of the following social media sites do you use?
(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Snapchat,
Pinterest, Tumblr)
Which of the following sites do you use the most? (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Snapchat, Pinterest,
Tumblr)
How likely are you to meet with people to just catch up
15
or have a conversation? (very likely, likely, sometimes,

unlikely, very unlikely)
10. Do you feel like social media oers you enough to know
what is happening in other peoples lives? (yes/ no)
For the online survey, the question Which country do you
live in? was asked in case a large majority of responses
came from one single place.
Results
The first portion of graphs will compare males to females in
responses to survey questions.
Figure 5
Figure 5 compares responses of genders on their most used

social media sites. Facebook is the most widely used social
media site for all respondents. Twitter came in second for
males and no males in this survey greatly used Pinterest, Instagram, or Tumblr. For females, Snapchat came in second.
Neither males or females greatly used Linkedin.
Figure 2
Figure 2 compares percentage of respondents of males and

females on whether or not they use social media. Almost all
100% of respondents use social media.
Figure 6
Figure 6 compares responses from genders in the likeliness

of meeting up with someone to catch up. The majority of
males and females are likely to meet up with someone to
have direct contact. There is also a great amount of males
that are very unlikely to meet up with someone.
Figure 3
Figure 2 compares responses between genders of amount

of time spent on social media. The majority of male respondents spend 1-2 hours on social media sites and the majority
of females spend 0-1 hour on social media.
Figure 7
Figure 7 compares responses from genders in whether or

not they feel social media oers them enough to know what
is happening in other peoples lives. Both genders generally
felt that social media did not oer enough to know what is
happening in their friends lives.
Figure 4
Figure 4 compares responses from genders on what time

during the day they spend the most time on social media.
The majority of both male and female respondents spend
the most time on social media from 5-11:59 pm.
16
The following set of graphs are the results based on the

online survey with both genders included. The data for each
gender for the online results were included in the graphs in
the gender comparison area.
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Figure 8
Figure 8 shows responses from online respondents on how

much time they spend on social media. Online respondents
generally spent 1-2 hours
Figure 12
Figure 12 shows whether or not online respondents felt social media oered them enough to know what is going on in
others lives. Generally, online respondents felt social media
oers them enough information on events in their friends
lives.
Discussion
Figure 9
Figure 9 shows when online respondents used social media

the most. Online respondents generally used social media
between 5-11:59 pm.
Figure 10
Figure 10 shows the most used social media sites for online
respondents. Generally, online respondents used Facebook
the most.
Figure 11
Figure 11 shows how likely online respondents will pursue

direct contact with someone. The majority of online respondents are likely to have direct contact.
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As expected, almost everyone who completed the survey

uses social media as well as uses social media to keep in
touch with their friends. Furthermore, Facebook was the
most used social media site. Those that did not use social
media were more likely to meet up with people to catch up
probably because they do not have online updates or online
conversations. Moreover, people over the age of 25 tend to
spend less time on social media (0-1 hour) and also earlier in
the day (6 - 11:59 am).
When comparing males with females, the majority of males
and females spend 0 - 1 hour per 24 hour day on social
media and use social media from 5-11:59 pm. This was
expected because from that time period is when teenagers
get o school and have the most free time. However, it was
surprising that most teens only spend 1-2 hour on social
media for males and 0-1 hour for females. No males greatly
use Instagram, Pinterest, or Tumblr on a daily basis. This is
possibly because those sites are more picture oriented and
females are more open to expressing their image online and
are more conscious about their appearance (Merz, 2014).
Also, both genders dont overly use Linkedin. This is probably because younger people dont have much to update
regarding new jobs or need to add more connections. In
addition, females are more likely to meet up in person with
their friends to have a conversation than males. This could
be due to how females generally like to talk more especially
on more emotionally challenging topics (2010, Goldsmith).
Lastly, both genders agreed that social media does not oer
enough information on someones life.
When comparing the survey conducted in person versus online from a Facebook link, results were similar in that almost
everyone used social media and for the majority of survey
questions. However, results diered in that the majority of
people that responded online spent more time on social
media sites than people that took the survey in person. This
could be because they found this link when they were on
social media and therefore uses more social media or online
17
sources. Additionally, it was interesting to find that people

that responded online thought that social media provided
enough to know what is going on in others lives. This could
be once again that these were people that spent more time
on social media and therefore got more updates and found
it fulfilling.
Kross, Ethan, Philippe Verduyn, Emre Demiralp, Jiyoung

Park, David Seungjae Lee, Natalie Lin, Holly Shablack, John
Jonides, and Oscar Ybarra. Facebook Use Predicts
Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults. Ed.
Cdric Sueur. PLoS ONE 8.8 (2013): E69841. Web. 20 Feb.
2015.
No statistical analysis has been conducted and so the results

may or may not be significant. Lastly, because a lot of data
collected now is only short term, it is unknown if the same
eects will still be significant in the long run.
Libert, Kelsey. This Study of 2.6 Billion Shares Reveals

Which Platforms and Publishers Dominate Social The
Content Strategist. Contently. N.p., 19 Aug. 2014. Web. 15
Jan. 2015.
Next time, I think it would be interesting to add to my survey

and find out where people spend the most time on social
media, whether its outside or inside their homes. This could
be important in determining if people that stay within their
homes more are less likely to go out and have direct contact
with others. Also, it would be interesting to know which devices people spend the most time on social media, having
the answers be on their phones versus on a laptop. I think
that this data may be important because people who also
use social media on their portable devices will check these
sites more.
Merz, Theo. Is Instagram a No-bro Zone? The Telegraph.

Telegraph Media Group, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2015.
References
Brodzky, Brandon. Social Media User Statistics & Age Demographics for 2014. Linkedin. N.p., 18 Nov. 2014. Web.
20 Feb. 2015.
Deiner E, Emmons RA, Larsen RJ, Grin S (1985) The Satisfaction with Life Scale. J Pers Assess 49: 71 - 74.
Sharma, Naveen. Disadvantages of Social Media. The

Research Pedia. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Jan. 2015.
Smith, Chris. Mark Zuckerberg Outlines Facebooks social
Mission TechRadar. Future Plc, 2 Feb. 2012. Web. 15 Jan.
2015.
Sociability. Psychology Wiki. Wikia, n.d. Web. 25 Apr.
2015. http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Psychology_Wiki
Stelzner, Michael A. 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry
Report. (n.d.): n. pag. Social Media Examiner, May 2014.
Web. 15 Jan. 2015.
Image:
Emotional Sentiment of Top Shared Articles on Each Social
Media Network. Digital image. Social Media Sentiment.
Fractl, 19 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
Goldsmith, Barton. Men, Women, Emotions and Communication. Psychology Today. Emotional Fitness, 31 Aug.
2010. Web. 17 Jan. 2015.
Grenny, Joseph. Is Facebook Making Us Antisocial?
Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 7 May 2003. Web. 13 Jan. 2015.
18
ESTEAMED Scholars
The Efficacy of Probiotics on Allergies and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and

Reasons for Inconsistency in Some Effects
Mindy Lin, grade 12, Burnaby South Secondary
Probiotics are becoming more prevalent in the consumer market nowadays. Claims that they have positive eects such
as balancing our intestinal microbial community, augmenting the immune system, and even treating certain diseases are
widely promoted in society. Clinical trials have been conducted on the eect of probiotics on two immunological diseases,
allergies and inflammatory bowel disease. Multiple probiotic strains were used in the clinical trials for patients ranging from
infants to seniors. The results showed that the use of probiotics reduced certain symptoms in these two types of disease
but therapeutic eects were found to be inconsistent mainly because of the confounding variables including lifestyle, age,
geography and strains of probiotics that reduce the accuracy of the outcomes.
Introduction
The human intestine holds a large variety of bacteria including Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus. (Zhang et al. 2015)
They can be acquired from certain food, with yogurt being
a common one. Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer
a health benefit on the host by the World Health Organization. (FAO/WHO 2002)
Probiotics are known to populate the intestine, and contribute to the intestinal microbial balance. (Shoaib et al. 2015)
As bacteria living in the human body, probiotics should trigger a response from the hosts immune system; thus their effects on the immune system are of great interest to researchers as break-through to its ecacy on preventing diseases.
(Macpherson and Harris 2004) Although it has been shown
that probiotics are eective in improving the condition of
certain immune diseases like asthma and atopic dermatitis,
the improvement is very strain and disease specific, and may
be caused by factors including change in lifestyle that would
contribute to the augmentation of the immune system.
(Hwang et al. 2012) For example, probiotics might have
simply reduced the symptoms by balancing the intestinal
microbial community rather than preventing or curing any of
these diseases through stimulating the immune system.
Both the Inflammatory bowel disease and allergies are
facing challenges in developing a more eective treatment.
Inflammatory bowel disease can require antibiotics and
immunosuppressive drugs to control the symptoms. These
drugs generally have serious side eects. (Saez-Lara et
al. 2015) The increasing prevalence of allergies urges the
society to produce more eective ways in treating it. (Kim et
al. 2013) This leaves patients to consider taking probiotics to
help stimulate the immune system and balance the intestinal
microbial population as an alternative therapy. The eect of
probiotics on inflammatory bowel disease and allergies is
discussed in this paper from looking at dierent clinical trials
and how subjects are aected by the intake of probiotics.
Research on probiotics and allergy diseases requires the
control of many factors. A studys result may not apply to another group that comes from a dierent geographical area
or lives with a dierent lifestyle. Probiotics have become
part of a large health beneficial trend, but their benefits are
still debated. (Hold et al. 2014)
ESTEAMED Scholars
Probiotics Eects on Diseases Caused from Immune

Defection
1. Allergies
One of the most common allergies is atopic dermatitis (eczema). The cause of allergic diseases are unknown but are
thought to be due to both environment and an individuals
genetics. There is no single gene that represents the onset
of the disease, but family history contributes to predict
prognosis of atopic dermatitis along with the living environment. (Lee et al. 2015) Atopic dermatitis causes symptoms
like itchiness and red dry skin with severe complications
like bacterial or viral infection. (Wthrich 1999) Treatments
of atopic dermatitis are normally skin care therapies like
moisturizers. Those treatments may seem to cure the atopic
dermatitis at the moment, but they dont fix underlying
cause. (Hoppe et al. 2013)
Atopic Dermatitis is triggered by allergens that enter the
body. It is hypothesized that oral consumption of probiotics
suppresses the immune system, and thus reduce the symptoms of atopic dermatitis. (Kim et al. 2013) From assessing
the cytokine level, one study has concluded that probiotics
have immunostimulatory eects. (Ditu et al. 2014) At the
same time, another study has concluded that probiotics exert immunosuppressive eects in vivo. (Hosoya et al. 2014)
It is highly debated whether probiotics would be immunosuppressive or immunostimulatory. This uncertainly conflicts
with its possible eects in reducing allergic reactions.
There have been several clinical trials conducted on using
probiotics to relieve the symptoms of atopic dermatitis. A
randomized control trial was conducted on the eects of the
consumption of a common probiotics (Lactobacillus plantarum CJLP133) during early ages on atopic dermatitis. The
experiment provided Lactobacillus probiotics to fourty-four
children from twelve months to thirteen years old. The trial
suggests the ecacy of probiotics in relieving the severity
of atopic dermatitis due to the experimental group having a
significantly lower SCORAD index (Scoring Atopic Dermatitis, one of the most common scores to represent the severity
of atopic dermatitis (Anonymous 1993)) than the placebo
group. (Han et al. 2012) Some other clinical trials on the effect of probiotics on atopic dermatitis also report beneficial
results on infants, children and adults in Korea, Japan and
Italy with a variety of probiotics including Lactobacillus Acidophilus L-92, Lactobacillus salivarius LS01 and Bifidobacterium breve BR03. (Iemoli et al. 2012, Weston et al. 2005,
19
Inoue et al. 2014, Matsumoto et al. 2014) One of the papers

draws a conclusion of probiotics being potentially eective
for reduction of rash rather than treating the disease by altering the immune system.
Aside from atopic dermatitis, the studies conducted on
other allergy diseases didnt show consistent ecacy of
probiotics. (Ivory et al. 2013) Even though probiotics seems
to have a tendency to improve symptoms of atopic dermatitis, its underlying mechanisms are not clear. Thus, probiotics
would have almost no eect in treating allergy diseases.
2. Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes two disorders,
ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohns disease (CD), which are
distinguished by the location of the inflammation. CD may
happen anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract, while UC
only happens from the rectum along the colon. (Mulder et
al. 2014) This disease aects up to 20% of teenagers, and
has symptoms ranging from abdominal pain to rectal bleeding. (Hyams et al. 1996)
Figure 1. The Venn diagram shows the overlapping factors that induce the IBD. Diet and environmental factors trigger a change in the
intestinal microbial balance which causes the IBD. Some patients
demonstrate genetic susceptible factors that may contribute to the
cause of IBD (taken from Hold et al. 2014)
Since IBD is significantly related to the intestinal microbial

community, probiotics may be able to aect the disease
by populating the intestine with beneficial bacteria. At
the same time, as the disease involves inflammation as a
symptom which is caused by the stimulation of the immune
system, alternation towards the immune system may be able
to regulate inflammation, and control IBD.
Most clinical trials have shown almost no dierence in the
data collected from the control group and the experimental
group receiving probiotics for patients experiencing CD.
Lactobacillus johnsonni LA1 was consumed by ninety-eight
adults after intestinal resection for CD. Probiotics were not
able to prevent the recurrence of the disease. (Marteau et
al. 2006) At the same time, the eect of probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus La-5 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp.)
on thirty-two patients with UC in remission seems to be
insignificant as well. (Wildt et al. 2011) However, a pediatric
20
trial with thirty infants consuming probiotics mixture called

VSL#3 (Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Streptococcus)
showed improvements of relapse time and remission of
the symptoms of UC. (Miele et al. 2009) Another clinical
trial conducted on 65 adults using VSL #3 didnt show any
statistical significance. Probiotics only seems to reduce the
symptom of rectal bleeding. (Tursi et al. 2010) From various
clinical trials, there is a change in fecal concentration of certain bacteria after consumption of probiotics which indicates
that probiotics have colonized in the intestine. (Venturi et
al. 1999) It is shown in these clinical trials that probiotics can
only mildly assist in maintaining the remission period and reducing the symptoms by balancing the intestinal microbiota
mainly in children. Nevertheless, probiotics are not able to
consistently treat inflammation in the intestine from triggering the immune system.
Gaps in Understanding
There are many factors contributing to the balance of the intestinal microbial population. Factors include age, lifestyle,
and geography limit the accuracy of experiments conducted
on probiotics since these variables are hard to control. The
papers reviewed have shared a common tendency that infants and children consuming probiotics show more beneficial eects toward alleviating the symptoms of allergies and
IBD than adults. The specific mechanism of the cause may
be that adults exhibit age-related changes in genes involved
with metabolism and vitamin biosynthesis. (Yatsunenko et
al. 2012) Smoking and a lack of exercise significantly aect
the microbial balance in the large bowel by increasing the
amount of Bacteroides prevotella. (Huxley et al. 2009) Geographical dierences also limit the research application, so if
the main samples are from the Caucasian adults consuming
Western diets, the research result may only be applicable to
Western population since intestinal microbial balance is often analyzed through collecting fecal samples, and Western
diet is high in protein and animal fat. Not sucient research
has found the association between geographical influence
and probiotics ecacy. (Cordain et al. 2005, Yatsunenko et
al. 2002)
Studies are further complicated by the genetic diversity of
bacteria. Strain dierences within a species of bacteria can
show completely dierent properties, and obtain dierent
corresponding immunological responses from the hosts
body. A study on multiple dierent strains of Bifidobacterium species finds dierent growth requirements and levels of
acid tolerance from each specific strain. (Matto et al. 2004)
Conclusion
Even though probiotics may be seen as being able to
improve health in many ways, none of the eects have been
demonstrated in the clinical trials. A lot of the clinical trials
have shown correlation between probiotics and improvements towards allergies and inflammatory bowel disease,
but most data has shown statistically insignificant results.
This may be due to the diculty in isolating and controlling
ESTEAMED Scholars
important variables that aect probiotics eectiveness. As

probiotics are increasingly used by consumers in the heath
food market, it is essential to learn the eect on our health.
Although probiotics are promoted as entirely beneficial to
the body, their mechanism and potential risks are not yet
completely understood.
References
Anonymous Severity Scoring of Atopic Dermatitis: The
SCORAD Index. Consensus Report of the European Task
Force on Atopic Dermatitis. Dermatology. 186.1(1993):2331.
Cordain L., Eaton B., Sebastian A. et al. Origins and evolution of the Western diet: Health implications for the 21st
century. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 81.2(2005):341354.
Ditu L.M., Chifiriuc M.C., Bezirtzoglou E. et al. Immunomodulatory eect of non-viable components of probiotic
culture stimulated with heat-inactivatedEscherichia coli and
Bacillus cereus on holoxenic mice. Microbial Ecology in
Health and Disease. 25.10(2014):3402.
FAO/WHO. Guidelines for the Evaluation of Probiotics in
Food. 2002.
Han et al. A randomized trial of Lactobacillus plantarum
CJLP133 for the treatment of atopic dermatitis. Pediatr
Allergy Immunol. 23.7(2012):667-673.
Hold et al. Role of the gut microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis: What have we learnt in the past 10
years? World J Gastroenterol. 20.5(2014):1192-1210.
Hold G.L., Smith M., Grange C. et al. Role of the gut microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis: What
have we learnt in the past 10 years? World J Gastroenterol.
20.5(2014):1192-1210.
Hoppe T., Winge M.C, Bradley M. et al. Moisturizing
treatment of patients with atopic dermatitis and ichthyosis
vulgaris improves dry skin but has a modest eect on gene
expression regardless of FLG genotype. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 29.1(2013):174-177
Hosoya T., Sakai F., Yamashita M. et al. Lactobacillus helveticus SBT2171 Inhibits Lymphocyte Proliferation by Regulation of the JNK Signaling Pathway. Langsley G, ed. PLoS
ONE. 9.9(2014):108360.
Huxley R.R., Ansary-Moghaddam A., Clifton P. et al. The
impact of dietary and lifestyle risk factors on risk of colorectal cancer: A quantitative overview of the epidemiological
evidence. Int. J. Cancer. 125.1(2009):171180.
Hwang J.S., Im C.R., and Im S.H. Immune Disorders
and Its Correlation with Gut Microbiome. Immune Network.12.4(2012):129-138.
Hyams J.S., Burke G., Davis P.M. et al. Abdominal pain
and irritable bowel syndrome in adolescents: a community-based study. Pediatr. 129.2(1996):220.
Iemoli E., Trabattoni D., Parisotto S. et al. Probiotics reduce
gut microbial translocation and improve adult atopic dermaESTEAMED Scholars
titis. J Clin Gastroenterol. 46.Suppl(2012):S33-40.

Inoue Y., Kambara T., Murata N. et al. Eects of Oral Administration of Lactobacillus Acidophilus L-92 on the Symptoms
and Serum Cytokines of Atopic Dermatitis in Japanese
Adults: A Double-blind, Randomized, Clinical Trial. Int Arch
Allergy Immunol. 165.4(2014):247-254.
Ivory K., Wilson A.M., Sankaran P. et al. Oral Delivery of a
Probiotic Induced Changes at the Nasal Mucosa of Seasonal
Allergic Rhinitis Subjects after Local Allergen Challenge: A
Randomised Clinical Trial. PLoS One. 8.11(2013): e78650.
Kim H.J., Kim H.Y., Lee S.Y. et al. Clinical ecacy and mechanism of probiotics in allergic diseases. Korean Journal of
Pediatrics. 56.9(2013):369-376.
Lee J., Chang O.P., Kwang H.L. et al. Specific Immunotherapy in Atopic Dermatitis. Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.
7.3(2015):221-229.
Macpherson and Harris. Interactions between commensal
intestinal bacteria and the immune system. Nature Reviews
Immunology. 4.6(2004):478-485
Marteau P., Lemann M., Seksik P. et al. Ineectiveness of
Lactobacillus Johnsonii LA1 for Prophylaxis of Postoperative
Recurrence in Crohns Disease: A Randomised, Double
Blind, Placebo Controlled GETAID Trial. Gut. 55.6 (2006):
842847.
Matsumoto M., Ebata T., Hirooka J. et al. Antipruritic eects
of the probiotic strain LKM512 in adults with atopic dermatitis. Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. 113,2(2014):209216.
Matto J., Malinen E., Suihko M.L. et al. Genetic heterogeneity and functional properties of intestinal bifidobacteria. J
Appl Microbiol. 97.3(2004):459 470
Miele E., Pascarella F., Giannetti E. et al. Eect of a probiotic preparation (VSL#3) on induction and maintenance of
remission in children with ulcerative colitis. Am J Gastroenterol. 104.2(2009):437443.
Mulder D.J., Nobel A.J., Justinich C.J. et al. A tale of two diseases: The history of inflammatory bowel disease. Journal
of Crohns and Colitis. 8.5(2014):341348.
Saez-Lara M., Gomez-Llorente C., Plaza-Diaz J. et al. The
Role of Probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria and Bifidobacteria
in the Prevention and Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel
Disease and Other Related Diseases: A Systematic Review
of Randomized Human Clinical Trials. BioMed Research
International. 2015 (2015): 505878.
Shoaib A., Dachang W., and Xin Y. Determining the role of
a probiotic in the restoration of intestinal microbial balance
by molecular and cultural techniques. Genet. Mol. Res.
14.1(2015): 1526 1537
Tursi A., Brandimarte G., Papa A. et al. Treatment of
Relapsing Mild-to-Moderate Ulcerative Colitis With the
Probiotic VSL#3 as Adjunctive to a Standard Pharmaceutical
Treatment: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study. The American Journal of Gastroenterology.
105.10(2010):2218-2227.
21
Venturi A., Gionchetti P., Rizzello F. et al. Impact on the

composition of the faecal flora by a new probiotic preparation: preliminary data on maintenance treatment of
patients with ulcerative colitis. Aliment Pharmacol Ther.
13.8(1999):1103-1108.
Wildt S., Nordgaard I., Hansen U. et al. A randomised
double-blind placebo-controlled trial with Lactobacillus
acidophilus La-5 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis
BB-12 for maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis.
Journal of Crohns and Colitis. 5.2(2011):115-121.
Wthrich B. Clinical aspects, epidemiology, and prognosis of atopic dermatitis. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol
83.5(1999):464470.
Yatsunenko T., Rey F.E., Manary M.J. et al. Human gut
microbiome viewed across age and geography. Nature.
486.7402(2012):222-227.
Zhang Y.J., Li S., Gan R.Y. et al. Impacts of Gut Bacteria on
Human Health and Diseases. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 16.4(2015):7493-7519.
Weston S., Halbert A., Richmond P. et al. Eects of probiotics on atopic dermatitis: a randomized controlled trial. Arch
Dis Child. 90.9(2005):892897.
22
ESTEAMED Scholars
Year 2 - Research
The act of doing science is a rich and rewarding process that is often misunderstood. Science and research occurs slowly and
in incremental steps. At FSL we give an opportunity to experience the process of science. We aim to accomplish two goals
in the research stream. The first is to give students fundamental lab skills such as using a pipette, aseptic (sterile) technique
and microbial husbandry. Students practice these skills while they work on a group project to model the scientific process.
The second goal is to have students experience the process of science from developing research questions, planning and
performing experiments as well as presenting their work in a scholarly academic fashion through publication in this journal.
Students submitted research plans in early January. Their peers as well as mentors such as, Dr. Jennifer McQueen and Dr.
Catherine Anderson critiqued these plans. Over the course of several months students planned and conducted their experiments either in the FSL labs, at home or in the labs of additional mentors. The research students also faced many of the same
research diculties that top researchers experience. Students were required to identify or engineer their materials, troubleshoot protocols, collect tedious amounts of data, and interpret results. All students overcame these obstacles and completed
their projects.
Two of our students, Austin Wang and Yoyo Ding took their projects to the Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair and both
won gold in the senior division. Yoyo also won an UBC Science Entrance Award and Austin received the BC Hydro Science
Scholarship Nomination, Genome BC Scholarship Nomination, Genome British Columbia Award, UBC Science Entrance
Award, and Bole Education Services Award. Both Austin and Yoyo will be competing at the Canada Wide Science Fair in
Fredericton mid- May. Austin also competed in the Sanofi Biogenesis Challenge and placed first overall. He will be representing British Columbia at the national competition in Ottawa at the National Research Council on May 25.
This stream of Future Science Leaders was led by Dr. Jennifer McQueen.
I completed my undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of British Columbia, while
participating in the exchange program at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, and the
co-op work placement program. Following my undergraduate, I focused my studies on the regulation of cellular division in budding yeast earning a PhD in genetics from UBC. Following my PhD I
examined conserved pathways between yeast and man as a post-doctoral fellow for two years. I
have been the research mentor at FSL for the last three years.
ESTEAMED Scholars
23
Author Biographies
Austin Wang
Austin Wang is a grade 11 student at David Thompson Secondary in Vancouver, BC. , Austin does
research into the genetics and microbial dynamics of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and believes that
MFCs have great potential in reducing our carbon emissions, and in providing power for third
world and developing nations. Aside from his scientific endeavours, Austin has played piano for 11
years, cello for 3 years, and was part of jazz and concert bands as a flutist and alto saxophonist. In
his spare time, Austin enjoys composing original music, and has won awards from local to international levels.
Yoyo Ding
I am Yoyo Ding, and I am a grade 11 student at Crofton House School. My interest in science is
very diverse, and my favourite subjects include chemistry and physics. Laboratory research is
the component that I enjoy the most in those subjects, and the observations that I make in them
amazes me. Other than science, I also enjoy sports and art. I am a competitive figure skater, and
I participate in regional tests and competitions. Art is the way I like to express myself. My artwork
has recently been chosen to represent my school at ISABC Annual Art Exhibition.
Andrew Lin
Science and logic are my two strongest passions in life. I love solving problems and figuring things
out. Im always applying my brain! In my free time I like to computer program, solve math problems, do card tricks, watch TV, watch movies, read, procrastinate on the internet and play video
games. I adore the Legend of Zelda, Super Mario and other old video games along with my favourite television show Doctor Who. I spend a lot of time thinking really deeply about things (normally
a tricky math problem). Im nowhere close to being a normal person. But normals boring!
Lauren Dobischok
Hi, Im Lauren, and I am a grade twelve student at Maple Ridge Secondary in Maple Ridge, BC.
Next year I am headed to either SFU or UBC to study Science with career goals in research and
regenerative medicine. I am a lifeguard and swimming instructor and enjoy reading and writing
about science communication, cross stitching, volunteer work, and going on the internet in my
spare time. As a second year FSL student, I am fascinated by many areas of science and love how
broad the field is- I believe there is something in science for everyone!
Jastina Aujila
Jastina Aujla is a Grade 11 student at Crofton House School and is interested in the sciences, especially microbiology. She hopes to work as a doctor in the future as a pediatric oncologist/hematologist working for BC Childrens Hospital. As for now, Jastina is currently in the Research Stream
within the Future Science Leaders Program at the Telus World of Science and has finished working
on a microbiology project involving the growth of yogurt bacteria when exposed to UV light. She
is grateful for the valuable skills, techniques, and lab work she learned within FSL.
24
ESTEAMED Scholars
Development of a Novel Procedure to Identify Genes with Roles in Power

Output of Exoelectrogenic Bacteria in Microbial Fuel Cells
Austin (Han Jie) Wang, grade 11, David Thompson Secondary
In this study, a novel procedure was utilized to identify genes with roles in power output of exoelectrogenic bacteria in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). An E. coli fosmid library constructed from microorganisms in a bioreactor fed with metal-contaminated water was incubated into batch-operated MFCs. The MFCs incubated with the fosmid clones performed significantly
better than the MFCs incubated with an E. coli DH5a control strain, generating almost 4 times more peak power output.
Biofilm samples were extracted from the MFCs and individual clones isolated. Incubation in the MFCs with the isolated
clones revealed three clones (B1A1 B1A2, and B1A3) with significant improvements in power output over the control strain.
This study demonstrates that using a gain of function approach to rapidly screen a wide array of genes from gene libraries
may be an ecient, and feasible method to identify genes that enhance power generation of exoelectrogenic microbes in
MFCs.
Introduction
In recent years, there has been an increasing number of
green technologies powered by microorganisms. The
flagship of this novel breed of microbe-driven technologies
is the microbial fuel cell, or MFC. Much of what is waste
such as food scraps, sewage and wastewater actually
contain large quantities of potential energy (Heidrich 2011).
MFCs process the waste and exploit its latent energy by capitalizing on special bacteria called exoelectrogens (Logan
2008). Like other microbes, these bacteria oxidize organic
materials such as those found in wastewater. But unlike their
counterparts, these specialists generate liberated electrons
while metabolizing the waste material, a trait that MFCs tap
into to produce electricity (Logan 2008). In essence, the
MFC is akin to a battery, except the fuel source is organic
materials and the chemical reactions are driven by bacteria.
In the United States, 3% of all power is used for wastewater
treatment (Logan 2012). MFCs promise to not only eliminate
the energy consumption of wastewater processing, but also
to generate significant amounts of electricity in the process.
Nationwide, MFCs running on wastewater have the potential to generate 400 million MWh of electricity, or 10% of the
nations electricity requirements (Scott 2012).
In the past, MFCs have relied on expensive and toxic inorganic chemical redox mediators to shuttle electrons from
the microorganisms to an electrode acting as the terminal
electron acceptor. Recently, new developments have been
made in mediator-less MFCs. These exploit microbes that
have the ability to transfer electrons directly to an external
electron acceptor without the assistance of inorganic redox
mediators. This process is called extracellular electron transport (EET) and the microbes that engage in EET are called
exoelectrogens (Logan 2009).
Although the design and operation of MFCs are fairly
advanced, our current understanding of the biological
functions and the role of certain genes involved in electron
transfer of exoelectrogens are lacking (Fedorovich et al.
2009).
strains of bacteria that were identified to exhibit bacterial

EET (Logan 2009). Previous studies demonstrate that MFCs
are able to enrich cultures by selecting for exoelectrogens
(Yu et al. 2012). In this study, the fosmid library was incubated into the MFCs, and after a 1 week enrichment period,
individual clones were isolated. New insights into the performance of these clones (against a genetically unmodified
control) and the gene inserts they carry may shed new light
on the genes involved in driving or enhancing bacterial EET.
These insights may lead to improved microbe performance
through genetic engineering (Alfonta 2009) or improved
MFC reactor designs (Zhao et al. 2009).
MFC Configuration
Two types of MFCs were used in this study. The first utilized
a PLA plastic shell constructed by fused-deposition-molding (FDM) and was used to ascertain optimal growth and
operation conditions of the fosmid clones. The second MFC
was constructed with Lexan using a CNC machine and was
used to elucidate the fosmid library and clone performance.
Both MFCs had 356-micron carbon cloth electrodes (Fuel
Cells Etc) in the anode and cathode separated by a Nafion
N117 membrane (DuPont) acting as the proton-exchange
membrane (PEM). Prior to construction, carbon cloths were
treated in 70% nitric acid for 60 min at 373K to improve
liquid retention and encourage biofilm formation (Zhu et al.
2011). Nafion membranes were treated in 30% hydrogen
peroxide for 30 min at 373K, followed by 95% sulfuric acid
for 30 min at 373K prior to installation. Both PLA and Lexan
MFCs have anode and cathode chamber operating volumes
of 27mL, and eective cathode and anode electrode surface
areas of 13.5cm2. The cathode chamber was operated
abiotically and filled with 0.1M potassium ferricyanide in 100
mM phosphate buer saline (PBS). Prior to use, PLA MFCs
were sterilized by running 70% ethanol through the anode
chamber. Lexan MFCs were autoclaved at 121C for 20 min.
Incubations were conducted in duplicates.
This project aims to identify novel genes involved in bacterial EET. To achieve this, an E. coli fosmid library from a previous study was utilized (Mewis et al. 2013). The gene library
was constructed from microorganisms in a bioreactor fed
with metal-contaminated water and contained numerous
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Clone isolation
After a 1 week enrichment period, biofilm samples from the
MFCs were scraped o, transferred to LB, serial diluted, and
plated on LB-agar plates. 192 Individual colony forming
units (CFUs) per fuel cell were transferred to two 96-well
plates and stored as glycerol stocks. Individual clones were
systematically screened in the MFCs by incubating the
clones in pure culture following the incubation procedures
outlined above.
DNA Extraction
DNA was extracted from clones with >100% improvement
in peak power output using FosmidMAX Fosmid DNA
extraction kit (Epicentre) and RNase A (Purelink). Yield
concentration and purity were quantitatively analyzed using
a spectrophotometer (Thermo Scientific).
Gel Extraction and Sequencing
Fig. 7 Schematic of the dual-chambered Lexan based MFC used in
the screening experiments.
Fosmid and E. coli Preparation

An E. coli EPI300 fosmid library built from microorganisms
extracted from a homogenized core sample from a bioreactor used for mine remediation was utilized (Mewis et al.
2013). The fosmid library and a frozen E. coli DH5a control
strain were resuscitated in respective test tubes of Luria
Broth (LB) in a 37C incubator for 24 hours. The resuscitated
fosmid library and E. coli DH5a were kept frozen at -20C in
1mL LB and 1ml 20% glycerol solution until use.
MFC Growth Media
Growth media (GM) in all MFCs contained a modified M9
minimal media with 5 mL stock vitamins and 12.5 mL minerals mix and 12.5 mg/L chloramphenicol to maintain clone
selection in 50 mM PBS per liter of growth media. Carbon
sources were 1g/L glucose, 1g/L acetate or 1g/L glycerol.
MFC Incubation
Prior to incubation in the MFCs, 1mL of the frozen fosmid
clones were transferred to 100 mL of LB and grown overnight in a shaker incubator at 180 RPM and 27C. 40mL of
the clones in LB were pelleted by centrifuging at 4000 RPM
for 10 min. The clones were then resuspended in 10mL of
GM and pipetted 1mL at a time into 50mL of fresh GM, until
the inoculum reached an optical density (OD660) of 1.0. The
inoculum was sparged with N2 for 2 min to ensure anoxic
operating conditions. 27 mL of the inoculum was transferred
to the anode of the MFC, and the anode chamber sparged
with nitrogen gas for an additional 5 min to ensure anoxic
operating conditions. The same incubation procedures
were followed for incubating the E. coli DH5 control. Negative controls were incubated with sterile GM. MFCs were
kept at room temperature (22C). MFC feeding (Fig. 2) was
conducted by drawing 5 mL of and replacing with a 5 mL of
a 5 times concentrated GM solution.
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High molecular weight DNA was isolated using gel electrophoresis and the QIAEX II gel extraction kit (Qiagen).
Sequencing libraries were prepared using a DNA sample
preparation kit (Nextera). Samples will be sequenced on the
MiSEQ platform (Illumina).
Data Acquisition
The MFCs were monitored across a 1000 fixed external
resistance. A continuously logging voltage data-acquisition
device (DATAQ DI-710) was connected in parallel to each
fuel cell and cell potential scanned at a rate of 0.14 samples/s. Data recording and analysis was conducted in the
DATAQ WINDAQ software suite.
Optical Density
Optical densities were performed using a spectrophotometer (Hach DR2000 and Nanodrop 2000C). Anolyte solution
was drawn at 24 and 48 hours after incubation to elucidate
cell growth or decay in the fuel cells.
Internal Resistances
The internal resistances of each MFC waw determined after
conducting polarization tests using an LCR meter (Instek
LCR-821) at a test frequency of 10.0 kHz.
Potentiostat Measurements
Polarization and power curves were generated using a potentiostat (NuVant EZStat) after voltage stabilized. First, the
open circuit voltage (OCV) was monitored until it stabilized.
A potentiostatic discharge test was conducted by stepping
down the cell potentials in 50mV intervals, and monitoring
cell current until it reached a pseudo-steady state during
each interval.
Analysis
Currents in the fuel cells were determined by Ohms law
(I = V/R). Power density was calculated using the formula
P = V2/R and normalized to the surface area of the anode
carbon electrode.
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Results
The E. coli fosmid clones utilized in this study were built
from high molecular weight DNA from a bioreactor core
fed with metal-contaminated water that included zinc,
copper, and arsenic. 16S rRNA analysis revealed numerous
arsenic and iron-reducing strains of bacteria (Khoshnoodi
et al. 2014). Previous studies have demonstrated that most
exoelectrogens exhibit metal-reducing capabilities (Logan
2009). This, in conjunction with the inherent poor EET performance of E. coli make this library ideal for screening for
clones with enhanced EET performance.
Carbon source tests
The choice of carbon source has a drastic eect on the performance of MFCs (Lee et al. 2007). To determine the optimal carbon source for the fosmid clones, a set of three MFCs
were incubated with either 1g/L glucose, acetate (sodium
acetate) or glycerol respectively (Fig. 1). The maximum power densities of the MFCs running on acetate and glucose
were 28mW/m2 0.02mW/m2 and 13mW/m2 0.7mW/
m2 respectively, while the fosmid clones appear completely
unable to utilize glycerol. Based on these results, all future
incubations were conducted with 1g/L acetate as the carbon source.
Fig. 1. Performance of MFCs incubated with fosmid clones at an

OD660 of 1.0 running on acetate, glucose or glycerol.
Voltages
Upon incubation, the MFCs incubated with the fosmid
clones (FMFCs) immediately generated a voltage of 13mV
3mV, and steadily climbed logarithmically over a course of
approximately 6 hours (Fig. 2a). The voltage of the FMFCs
peaked out at 192mV 5mV. MFCs incubated with the DH5
control strain (DMFCs) generated a maximum voltage of
100mV 7mV, while the negative control MFCs with GM
only managed a negligible peak of 5mV 2mV.
Fig. 2. Performance of MFCs running on acetate. Arrows indicate

feeding. Fig. 2a. Voltage of MFCs incubated with the fosmid library,
DH5a control strain, and GM only across a 1000 resistor. Fig. 2b.
Power density of the MFCs normalized to the surface area of the
anode.
Table 2: Performance summary of MFCs incubated with fosmid

clones in pure culture. P-values were determined using a two-tailed
unpaired t-test conducted on the peak power output of the library
or each fosmid clone against that of the E. coli DH5a control.
Power density
The peak power densities for the FMFCs was 28mW/m2
0.02mW/m2, while the DMFCs managed a maximum
power density of only 6mW/m2 0.04mW/m2, nearly a
five-fold dierence in power output (Fig. 2b).
Internal Resistance
The internal resistances of the MFCs used for the polarization tests were 13.36 and 15.58 for the FMFCs and
DMFCs respectively.
Optical Density
An optical density test was conducted 24 and 48 hours after
incubation. (See Fig. 3)
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power output, whereas clones isolated from the anolyte

experienced insignificant changes in power output over the
control strain.
Fig. 3. OD660 of the anolyte from acetate-operated MFCs running

on the fosmid library and DH5 control strain before incubation and
after 24 hours.
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamic eciencies ( MFC ) of the MFCs were
evaluated using the formula: MFC =V_measured/E_emf
(Zielke 2006). The FMFCs did not exhibit improvements
over the DMFCs in MFC , with eciencies of 47.5% and
46.7% for the FMFCs and DMFCs respectively.
Fig. 4. Comparison of power density of fosmid clones running on

acetate incubated in pure culture.
Power Curve
The power curve demonstrates improved power generation
properties of the FMFCs compared to the DMFCs (Fig. 6).
The FMFCs managed a maximum power of 0.050mW at
0.996mA, while the highest observed power output for
the DMFCs was 0.043, at a much lower current of 0.17mA.
While the curves were closer at the lower current ranges,
the dierence in power output becomes more noticeable as
the current increases.
Fig. 6. Power curves for the FMFCs and DMFCs derived from the
polarization curve (Fig.5). Note the improved power output of the
FMFCs across the operable current range.
Individual clone performance

Incubation of pure cultures of individual clones yielded
three clones with significant power improvements over the
control strain (Fig. 4). Summary of performance of individual
clones can be found in table 2. Note that all clones isolated from the biofilm exhibited 150-200% improvements in
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Table 2: Performance summary of MFCs incubated with fosmid

clones in pure culture. P-values were determined using a two-tailed
unpaired t-test conducted on the peak power output of the library
or each fosmid clone against that of the E. coli DH5a control.
Discussion
In both the FMFCs and DMFCs, the power output and
voltages were significantly lower than those reported in
previous studies conducted with E. coli, which have managed power outputs of as much as 152mW/m2 (Park and
Zeikus 2002). However, the MFCs in these studies utilized
electron mediators, which allow for chemically assisted
electron-transfer, which is not indicative of bacterial electron-transferring performance. Unlike the power densities
over time reported commonly in literature, both the FMFCs
and DMFCs showed a rapid increase in power density in the
first few hours, followed by a lengthy stable phase (Fig. 2b)
rather than a sharp peak and decline (Rabaey et al. 2003).
The initial rapid increase in power output can be attributed
to the microorganisms acclimating to the new system. After
24 hours, the MFCs were fed with fresh GM. However,
power output showed little eect. This suggests that carbon
source depletion was not the cause of power stagnation. It
is likely that the operating conditions of the MFCs (anaerobic, minimal media) have contributed to sluggish metabolism and electron transfer kinetics of the microorganisms,
resulting in high anodic overpotentials. These inferences are
supported by the relatively low thermodynamic eciencies
of the MFCs.
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The similarities in thermodynamic eciencies between the

DMFCs and FMFCs suggest that substrate to current conversion is not more eciency in the FMFCs. However, the
increased power output in the higher current ranges can be
attributed to improvements in the electron-transferring characteristics of the biofilm (Herrero-Hernandez et al. 2012).
The OD660 of the MFCs show little correlation with the
power output of the fuel cells. This suggests that the improved performance of the FMFCs is not due to the ability
of the fosmid clones to grow more eciently in the media
used. The rapid increase in OD660 of the FMFCs from 24
to 48 hours, may be the result of the presence of a long lag
phase for acetate-consuming clones in the library or the
increased concentration of biosynthesized electron mediators in the anolyte. The latter is supported by the lower
internal solution resistance of the FMFCs compared to the
DMFCs. In the lower current ranges, both the DMFCs and
FMFCs had similar performance (Fig. 5). The low current
ranges ( act) are associated with charge-transfer overpotentials in MFC systems (Zhao et al 2009). This suggests that
the fosmid clones may not exhibit significant advantages in
charge-transfer kinetics. However, in the mid to high current
ranges, the FMFCs exhibit noticeably higher potentials.
Ohmic overpotentials usually manifest in the mid-current
ranges ( ohm), and are caused by the resistances within the
MFC (Zhao et al 2009). The internal resistance is usually
determined by the ionic resistances of the biofilm, membrane, or electrolyte (Zhao et al 2009). This suggests the
fosmid clones may carry genes that support biosynthesis
of natural redox mediators, or exhibit enhanced biofilm
structure formation (Herrero -Hernandez et al. 2012). Both
inferences are supported by the lower internal resistances
observed for the FMFCs compared to the DMFCs. Overpotentials at the high current ranges ( conc) can be attributed
to mass-transfer limitations (Zhao et al 2009). Mass transfer
overpotentials are a product of MFC operation conditions,
or biofilm structure (Zhao et al 2009). Since the former is the
same for both the DMFCs and FMFCs, the results suggest
that the fosmid clones may carry genes that enhance biofilm
formation.
The performance of individual clones demonstrates that

the MFCs were successful at selecting for high performance
clones. The lower power output of the clones compared to
the FMFC suggests that the power produced by the fosmid
library was caused by a consortium of bacterium, some of
which exhibit improved electricity generation properties
compared to others. The interactions between the clones
in the community require additional research and was not
explored in this study. Furthermore, the fosmid inserts of the
fosmid clones are approximately 42kb long. Each insert may
contain numerous genes and operons. In additional to sequencing the insert, additional screening phases will need
to be conducted in order to pinpoint the gene responsible
for the enhanced clone performance.
Conclusion
The MFCs incubated with the fosmid clones performed
significantly better than the MFCs incubated with a DH5a
control strain, generating almost 5 times more peak power
during a 48 hour incubation period. OD660 tests suggest
that the abundance of bacteria in the anolyte do not aect
the power generation properties of the MFCs. Polarization
and power curves reveal improved potential and power
generation of the FMFCs at mid to high current ranges
compared to the DMFCs. This suggests that the fosmid
clones may carry genes that improve biofilm formation and
structure, or encode for the biosynthesis of natural electron
mediators that decrease the ionic resistance of the biofilm or
electrolyte. These inferences are supported by the lower internal resistances of the FMFCs when compared to those of
the DMFCs. The results of this study demonstrate that using
a gain of function approach to rapidly screen a wide array
of genes in gene libraries may be an ecient, and feasible
method to identify genes that enhance power generation of
exoelectrogenic microbes in MFCs.
Acknowledgments
The researcher would like to thank the following for their
indispensable help with this study: Dr. Susan Baldwin, for
providing lab space and guidance, Elaine Yinghui Zhang for
guidance regarding fuel cell construction and electrochemical analysis, Dr. Jennifer McQueen for providing invaluable
advice and guidance, and Mr. Albert Chang, Ms. Judy
Sonachansingh, and Ms. Bianca Henderson for providing
advice and chemical reagents.
References
Logan, Bruce E. Exoelectrogenic Bacteria That Power Microbial Fuel Cells. Nature Reviews Microbiology 7.5 (2009):
375-81
Fig. 5. Polarization curve for FMFCs and DMFCs derived from potentiostatic discharge I-V curves (not shown). Note the three overpotential regions, act, ohm, and conc.
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Ismail, Zainab Z., and Ali Jwied Jaeel. Sustainable Power

Generation in Continuous Flow Microbial Fuel Cell Treating
Actual Wastewater: Influence of Biocatalyst Type on Electricity Production. The Scientific World Journal 2013 (2013):
1-7. Web.
Yu, Jaecheul, Sunja Cho, Sunah Kim, Haein Cho, and Taeho
Lee. Comparison of Exoelectrogenic Bacteria Detected Using Two Dierent Methods: U-tube Microbial Fuel Cell and
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49-53. Web.
Alfonta, Lital. Genetically Engineered Microbial Fuel Cells.
Electroanalysis (2010): NA. Web.
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A. Free, and I. Goryanin. Novel Electrochemically Active
Bacterium Phylogenetically Related to Arcobacter Butzleri,
Isolated from a Microbial Fuel Cell. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75.23 (2009): 7326-334. Web.
Li, and Jinhua Wu. Improved Performance of Membrane

Free Single-chamber Air-cathode Microbial Fuel Cells with
Nitric Acid and Ethylenediamine Surface Modified Activated
Carbon Fiber Felt Anodes. Bioresource Technology 102.1
(2011): 422-26. Web.
Park, Doo Hyun, and J. Gregory Zeikus. Improved Fuel Cell
and Electrode Designs for Producing Electricity from Microbial Degradation. Biotechnology and Bioengineering 81.3
(2003): 348-55. Web.
Mewis, Keith, Zachary Armstrong, Young C. Song, Susan A.

Baldwin, Stephen G. Withers, and Steven J. Hallam. Biomining Active Cellulases from a Mining Bioremediation System. Journal of Biotechnology 167.4 (2013): 462-71. Web.
Herrero-Hernandez, E., T.j. Smith, and R. Akid. Electricity

Generation from Wastewaters with Starch as Carbon Source
Using a Mediatorless Microbial Fuel Cell. Biosensors and
Bioelectronics 39.1 (2013): 194-98. Web.
Zhao, Feng, Robert C. T. Slade, and John R. Varcoe. Techniques for the Study and Development of Microbial Fuel
Cells: An Electrochemical Perspective. Chemical Society
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Sun, Yanmei, Wei, Jincheng, Liang, Peng, Huang Xia.

Electricity generation and microbial community changes in
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23, Pages 10886-10891.
Zhu, Nengwu, Xi Chen, Ting Zhang, Pingxiao Wu, Ping
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ESTEAMED Scholars
Inmeshtigation: Comparison of Water Vapour Collection of Three Stainless

Steel Mesh Sizes
Yoyo Ding, grade 11, Crofton House
Fog harvesting is a technique that collects water from air with large mesh structures in an environment with persistent fog.
The relationship between the sizing of the mesh used and the amount of water harvested from fog was investigated. I hypothesized that if the mesh spacing is closer, then more water will be collected. Three stainless-steel meshes with dierent
sizes were tested in a closed system, in which a humidifier was used to simulate a foggy environment. The mass of water
collected was measured over several trials. From the three mesh sizes tested (Mesh No. 20, No. 60, No. 100), it was determined that Mesh No. 60 showed the best water collection rate. This indicates that the middle size was the most ecient,
suggesting there is an ideal mesh size to optimize water collection.
Introduction
Fog harvesting is an innovative technology of collecting
water from fogs under favourable climate conditions. Fogs
are formed when a mass of water vapour condenses into
small droplets in the atmosphere. These water droplets in
the fog precipitate when they come in contact with objects.
In areas with frequent fogs, large fog collecting systems can
be set up to collect fresh water. For example, in arid zones
in Chile, clouds settling on the slopes of the mountains
produce persistent thick fogs that can be a source of potable
water for the population settling in the desert. Currently, the
common fog harvesting system consists of woven polyolefin
mesh (Schemenauer 1992). However, it has been shown
that woven stainless steel mesh is the most ecient (Park et
al. 2013). Mesh is categorized into dierent sizes based on
the amount of space between stainless steel filaments. The
purpose of this experiment is to compare the water vapour
collection of 3 stainless steel mesh sizes. By doing so, the
mesh size with optimal collection rate can be found.
Since closer spacing between the meshs filaments tends to
give more surface area for the water droplets in the fog to
precipitate, I hypothesized that more water will be collected
when the mesh spacing is closer.
Materials and Method
Mesh Preparation
All of the mesh was stainless steel and was obtained from
The Mesh Company. Mesh No. 20 has square openings that
are 0.841 mm in length. Mesh No. 60 has square openings
that are 0.250 mm in length. Mesh No. 100 has square
openings that are 0.149 mm in length. Mesh No. 20 and
Mesh No. 100 were each cut into 2 squares of 50mm by
50mm. Mesh No. 60 was too small to allow 2 equal squares
being cut, so 2 rectangles of 30mm by 45mm were cut out
instead. All pieces of mesh were stored in a dry environment
before and after each test to avoid being rusted away.
Test Setup
An ultrasonic humidifier (Thousand Island) was used to
generate water vapour and create a foggy environment in a
closed box. A nozzle that could disperse the fog equally in
4 directions was designed and printed on a 3D printer (Tinkerine), and the design is now available on Thingiverse. The
nozzle was placed on the humidifier, and it was turned on
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for a 5 min warm-up time. The prepared pieces of Mesh No.

20, Mesh No. 60, and Mesh No. 100 were each attached to
a 100 mL beaker with a piece of metal wire and an alligator
clip, and each piece of mesh was 100 mm above the top
edge of the beaker. Another empty beaker with no mesh
placed above it was used as control. Then, each of the 4
beakers was placed so that it was facing one of the openings
on the nozzle. In the preliminary test, 4 beakers, labelled A,
B, C, D, were used, and in the trials afterwards, 4 dierent
beakers labelled E, F, G, and H were used instead. In the
initial trials, the distance from the nozzle to the beaker was
in the approximate range of 50mm to 80mm, and the exact
distance wasnt measured. Once I was confident with my
technique, the trials were repeated with consistent distance
(70mm) from the centre of each beaker to the centre of
the nozzle on the humidifier. The orientation of the beakers were adjusted so that the surface of each piece of the
mesh was perpendicular to the direction in which the fog is
dispersed. The arrangement of beakers in correspondence
with the openings of the nozzle was rotated counter clockwise after each test, and measurements were repeated.
Data Collection
The 4 beakers were labelled E, F, G, and H respectively.
Before each test, the mass of each beaker was measured
with a scale (Smart Weigh) with a range of 0 g to 500 g, and
0.01 g accuracy. After each test, the outside of each beaker was cleaned with a cloth to remove the water droplets
formed on the glass, and then the mass of each beaker was
measured again. Area of each piece of mesh was calculated,
and the time of each test ran was recorded. Initial mass of
the beaker was subtracted from the final mass of the beaker
to obtain the mass of the water collected. Then, the amount
of water collected in the controlled beaker was subtracted
from the amount collected in each beaker with a mesh. The
results were divided by the surface area of the corresponding mesh and the time of the corresponding test to obtain
the unit collection rate of each mesh. The standard deviation
of each group of data was calculated, and t-test was performed on each pair of data (Mesh No. 20 and Mesh No. 60,
Mesh No. 60 and Mesh No. 100, Mesh No. 20 and Mesh
No. 100).
Humidity Measurement
In the second set of trials, a humidity meter (Springfield)
was used to measure the humidity of the simulated foggy
environment in the closed box while the tests were carried
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out. The humidity meter was placed in the box before the
test, and readings were recorded every 15 minutes during
the test.
Results
Large mesh systems can be set up in favorable climate conditions to harvest fresh water from fog. While stainless steel
is the material most ecient at fog harvesting (Park et al.
2013), the spacing between the stainless steel filament is another factor that can aect the eciency of the mesh system,
and has rarely been examined. Three dierent mesh sizes
(Mesh No. 20, 60, 100) were tested for their collection of
water vapour in a simulated foggy environment. Mesh was
placed in the path of a water vaporizer and the amount of
water collected was measured. As both mesh size and total
time varied between individual tests, the amount of water
collected was expressed as a function of mesh size (m2) and
time (hour, h).
Fig 1. The unit collection rate (mL/m2h) of the first set of stainless
steel Mesh No. 20, Mesh No. 60, and Mesh No. 100 in a simulated
foggy environment with a humidity of about 60%. Data obtained
from 9 tests (Test 1, Test 2, Test 4 to Test 10) were included in the
average. There were statistically significant dierences between the
unit collection rates of Mesh No. 20 and Mesh No. 60, Mesh No. 20
and Mesh No. 100. Mesh No. 60 and Mesh No. 100 shared a range
of variance, and the determination of the significance of dierence
between them was determined with statistical analysis (t-test).
Table 1. The unit collection rate (mL/m2h) of the first set of stainless
steel Mesh No. 20, Mesh No. 60, and Mesh No. 100 in a simulated foggy environment with a humidity of about 60%. The mean,
variance, standard deviation was calculated, and paired T-test was
performed pairwise between each mesh. There was significant
dierence between the average unit collection rate of each of the 3
mesh sizes (p < 0.05).
Each mesh size was significantly dierent from each other

based on the results of the paired t-tests (Table 1). Even
though the error bars of Mesh No. 60 and Mesh No. 100
partially overlapped (Fig. 1), the p-value of 0.009 suggested
that there were still significant (p<0.05) dierences between the average collection rate of Mesh No. 60 and Mesh
No. 100. In test 2 and 4, Mesh No. 100 obtained slightly
higher collection rates than Mesh No. 60 (Table 1). However,
this did not aect the significance of average dierences
between their collection rates.
Large variation was observed in the initial individual tests.
To address this, the distance between nozzle and mesh and
the time of each trial was held constant in a second set of
five trials. The amount of variance decreased (Fig. 2). In this
trial Mesh No. 20 collected 161.07 mL/m2h, Mesh No. 60
collected 642.63 mL/m2h, and Mesh No. 100 collected
342.04 mL/m2h (Table 2). These results show a similar trend
to those in the first trial.
In the initial experiment (Figure 1), consisting of nine trials,

there was pronounced dierence between the amount of
water harvested from water vapour for each mesh used (Fig.
1). Mesh No. 60 had the highest unit collection rate (651.2
mL/m2*h), and Mesh No. 20 had the lowest unit collection
rate (204.8 mL/m2*h). Mesh No. 100 was between the two
other mesh sizes with an average collection rate of 432.0
mL/m2*h (Table 1).
32
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The humidity (60%) of the simulated foggy environment in

the closed box was fairly constant throughout all the tests
that were being measured, despite the time at which the
measurement was taken (Table 4).
Discussion
Fig 2. The unit collection rate (mL/m2h) of the first set of stainless
steel Mesh No. 20, Mesh No. 60, and Mesh No. 100 in a simulated
foggy environment with a humidity of about 60%. Data obtained
from 5 tests (Test 11 to Test 15) were included in the average. There
were statistically significant dierences between the unit collection
rates of Mesh No. 20, Mesh No. 60, and Mesh No. 100. Variance
was significantly decreased compared to the results of the tests
done with the first set of mesh.
Table 2. The unit collection rate (mL/m2h) of the second set of

stainless steel Mesh No. 20, Mesh No. 60, and Mesh No. 100 in
a simulated foggy environment with a humidity of about 60%.
Standard deviation was calculated, and paired T-test was performed on Mesh No. 20, Mesh No. 60, and Mesh No. 100. There
was significant dierence between the average unit collection rate
of the 3 mesh sizes (p < 0.05). Variance was significantly decreased
compared to that of the tests done with the first set of meshes.
Table 4: The relative humidity (%) of the simulated foggy environment in the closed box measured by a humidity meter (Springfield)
with a range of 0% to 100%, and 2% accuracy. Measurement was
recorded before and every 15 min in tests 12 to 15. The average
relative humidity of the environment was calculated. The humidity
increased very slightly as each test progressed, and the average
humidity in each test was fairly constant.
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There was significant dierence between the amount of

water harvested from water vapour by meshes with different spacing between filaments. Mesh No. 60 was the
most ecient, and Mesh No. 20 was the least ecient. This
trend was seen in 12 of 14 trials ran. Because Mesh No. 60
has a higher collection rate than Mesh No. 100, the original
hypothesis is refuted. Originally, it was thought that closer
mesh spacing would provide more surface area for water vapour to precipitate. However, this experiment showed that
Mesh No. 60, the middle size, was more ecient. The optimal stainless steel mesh size for fog harvesting in this study
is No. 60 with openings of 0.250 mm by 0.250 mm. More
tests with other mesh sizes need to be done to delineate the
exact optimal mesh size.
When initial tests were done, there was significant variance
in the data collected in each test. These tests were done
without strict controls on the distance from the nozzle to the
beakers. That distance was consistent within each test, but
it may have changed between the tests. Therefore, variation
may have arisen from this factor. To check the impact of this
factor, the tests were repeated with a consistent distance
(70mm), which was marked from the centre of the nozzle
to the centre of the beaker on the bottom of the box. The
amount of variance decreased significantly in those tests,
and the error bars were much smaller (Fig. 2). The tests
done with the second set of meshes showed similar results
as those done with the first set of meshes (Table 2).
Two out of 14 trials showed that Mesh No. 60 and Mesh
No. 100 had very similar collection rate. However, there
remained to be statistically significant dierences between
the average collection rates of those two mesh sizes. Both
trials were part of the initial tests, in which distance from the
nozzle to the beakers was less controlled, resulting in more
variability. All trials with stricter controls showed strong
dierence (Fig. 2) between the collection rates of Mesh No.
60 and Mesh No. 100.
Woven polyolefin mesh system, which is currently the most
common material used in fog harvesting, is far less ecient
than the results obtained with stainless steel Mesh No. 60.
In a fog harvesting project set up in Eritrea, where average
relative humidity is about 60% annually (BBC Weather),
about 7.5 litres of water can be collected by 1m2 of polyolefin mesh (Quezada et al. 2008). In the simulated foggy
environment in the experiment, about 15.6 litres of water
can be collected by 1m2 of stainless steel mesh No. 60, and
the average humidity of the simulated environment is about
60% as well. By changing the material from polyolefin mesh
to stainless steel Mesh No. 60, the eciency of fog harvesting systems can be doubled. It also made it possible to set
up such systems in areas with lower fog intensity and still
collect fair amount of fresh water.
33
The cost of the stainless steel meshes is another factor in

real world application. The costs of stainless steel meshes
decrease as the mesh size increases. Mesh No. 20 costs the
most and collects least amount of water. Even though Mesh
No. 60. is more expansive than Mesh No. 100, its higher
unit collection rate yields a lower cost per milliliter of water
collected (Table 3).
Irrigation and Drainage (2013): 281-88. Print.

Future Science Leaders. Humidifier Nozzle. Thingiverse.
MakerBot, 6 Apr. 2015. Web.
9 Apr. 2015.
Klemm, Otto, Robert S. Schemenauer, Anne Lummerich,
Pilar Cereceda, Victoria
Marzol, David Corell, Johan Heerden, Dirk Reinhard, Tseggai
Gherezghiher,
Jana Olivier, Pablo Osses, Jamal Sarsour, Ernst Frost, Mara J.
Estrela, Jos A.
Valiente, and Gebregiorgis Mussie Fessehaye. Fog as a
Fresh-Water Resource:
Overview and Perspectives. Ambio (2012): 221-34. Print.
Table 3. The Cost Eciency of Mesh No. 20, Mesh No. 60, and Mesh
No. 100 based on the price from The Mesh Company. The original
price was in British pound, and it was converted into Canadian dollars based on the currency (1 British pound = 1.86 Canadian dollar).
Mesh No. 60 is the most cost ecient, and Mesh No. 20 is the least
cost ecient.
In natural circumstances, the meshes are placed perpendicular to the direction in which the wind comes. Even though
the meshes were placed similarly in the experiment, wind
was not simulated as it is in the nature. While water vapour
precipitates on the mesh, some of them can be blown o
the surface of the mesh by the strong wind and enters back
into the fog stream (Park et al. 2013). Therefore, the unit
collection rate is suspected to be lower in natural circumstances.
Humidity is also inconstant in nature due to the change in
temperature throughout the day. In the experiment, the
humidity was controlled at around 60%, and this change
in nature wasnt taken into account. As a result, the unit
collection rate per hour is suspected to dier throughout the
day in nature.
In the future, more mesh sizes with dierent spacing of
meshes between Mesh No. 20 and Mesh No. 100 can be
tested to delineate the exact optimal mesh size. More meshes made up of dierent materials can be tested for their
dierence in unit collection rate. Stainless Steel Mesh No.
60 can also be set up in a favourable climate condition to be
tested for its unit collection rate in natural circumstances.
Lummerich, Anne, and Kai J. Tiedemann. Fog Water Harvesting on the Verge of
Economic Competitiveness. Erdkunde (2011): 305-06.
Print.
Olivier, Jana. Fog Harvesting: An Alternative Source of
Water Supply on the West
Coast of South Africa. GeoJournal (2014): 203-14. Print.
Park, Kyoo-Chul, Shreerang S. Chhatre, Siddarth Srinivasan,
Robert E. Cohen, and
Gareth H. Mckinley. Optimal Design of Permeable Fiber
Network Structures for
Fog Harvesting. Langmuir (2013): 13269-3277. Print.
Schemenauer, Robert S., and Paul I. Joe. The Collection
Eciency of a Massive Fog
Collector. Atmospheric Research (1989): 53-69. Print.
Schemenauer, Robert S., and Pilar Cereceda. Water from
Fog-covered Mountains.
Waterlines (1992): 10-13. Print.
Schemenauer, Robert S., and Pilar Cereceda. Fog Collections Role in Water Planning
for Developing Countries. Natural Resources Forum
(2009): 91-100. Print
References
Cereceda, Pilar, Robert S. Schemenauer, and Marcela Suit.
An Alternative Water
Supply for Chilean Coastal Desert Villages. International
Journal of Water
Resources Development (1992): 53-59. Print.
Davtalab, Rahman, Alireza Salamat, and Ruhollah Oji. Water Harvesting From Fog
And Air Humidity In The Warm And Coastal Regions In The
South Of Iran.
34
ESTEAMED Scholars
A Heart of Gold: Effective Visual Fundraising by Phrasing Statistics and Using

Empathetic Images
Andrew Lin, grade 9, University Hill Secondary
As charities are extremely important in resolving world issues, this research targets how charities can maximize the amount
of donations they receive by having dierent designs on charity boxes. Three designs were created, the first only has words,
the second uses visuals and statistics to describe the importance of the problem, and the third expresses a singular example. These designs were inspired by previous research on framing phrases, altruism, and the eect of pictures compared
to words. They were put on boxes, and participants looked at all three and chose a box to donate to. In the end, no box received significantly more donations than others. Multiple factors that influenced participants choices were found through
the participants explanations, such as the boxes expressing the size of the problem and sympathy.
Introduction
Millions of dollars can be spent on charity advertisement by
a single charity in a year, for example the Canadian Breast
Cancer Foundation spent about 17 million dollars in 2014 on
advertisement. What should advertisements say or look like
in order to solicit the greatest amount of donations? That is
the objective of this experiment to study how dierent designs on charity boxes can get more or less donations. This
is important to help charities receive the most amount of aid
possible to help their causes. Research has previously been
done on framing which is how phrasing statements differently can aect peoples reactions (Tversky & Kahneman,
1984), but what happens when this is put into the emotional
and sympathetic context of giving donations? Three dierent designs were created, based o of established research
on advertising and altruism, along with some new hypotheses.
What is known about altruism and design
The identifiable victim eect refers to the increase in altruistic behaviour when people are helping an individual rather
than a statistical, undefined group (Small & Loewenstein,
2003). It has also been shown that pictures are held in memory for longer than text (Kirkpatrick, 1894). When put into
the context of charities, there is the question of if pictures
are more eective at displaying information and gaining
support, as they are stored dierently in memory.
Preparation
Four white cardboard boxes with holes cut out at the top
centre, measuring 4.8 cm by 1.6 cm. The three dierent designs as shown in Figure 1 were created, printed, and taped
onto the fronts of three boxes. The fourth box had the same
design as the first box, but it was used as the Keep box.
Fifty white poker chips (Bee Casino Quality 100 Count from
Dollar Store) were rinsed, dried and put into a pencil case.
Two pieces of cardstock were cut in half to make four long
pieces, and then folded, matching the shorter ends to each
other. The number 1 was written on 1 folded piece, the
number 2 on another, the number 3 on the third, and
the last one was disposed of.
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Figure 1. These were the created designs, with Design 1 at the upper
left, Design 2 at the upper right and Design 3 at the bottom left. Box
1 had Design 1, Box 2 had Design 2 and Box 3 had Design 3. The
designs were formed with certain ideas in mind. Design 1 was made
to just have words and statistics. Design 2 was made to have visuals
and statistics to show the size of the problem, and how people can
help. Design 3 was made to represent a single, personal example
with only a few words and an image.
The Letter of Informed Consent was written (Appendix A)

according to the guidelines in the Human Participation Low
Risk Forms section of the Youth Science Canada website,
and approved by the Greater Vancouver Regional Science
Fair Ethics Committee. One hundred permission forms from
the same website were printed and signed by the researcher (Appendix A). They were brought to each data-collecting
session. Instructions to instruct participants were written
and memorized by the researcher (Appendix B). A survey to
collect personal data from the participants was created on
Google Drive (Figure 3). A sheet was created with the words
1 clock, 2 clock, 3 clock, 1 counter, 2 counter
and 3 counter on it to help the researcher keep track of
the orientation that participants would look at the boxes in.
The participants would look at the boxes in dierent orders
some would start at Box 1 and go clockwise, some would
start at Box 2 and some at Box 3, then some would start at
Box 1 and go counterclockwise, some starting at Box 2 and
35
some at Box 3. After a participant went in one orientation,

the next participant would do the next orientation in this
cycle.
Table 1. The dierent components each boxs design had. The main
components investigated were size of statistics, specificity of facts,
and the amount and type of images.
Data-Collecting Sessions
There were two tables, two stools, permission forms, letters
of consent, the three charity boxes, the fourth box as the
Keep box, the pencil case full of tokens, a Meet a Future
Scientist sign, and a laptop set up according to Figure 2.
Figure 3. The survey. The survey asked for gender, age, family ethnicity, birth country, country their childhood was spent in, and languages spoken. It was then submitted onto a Google spreadsheet.
Creation of the Designs

Previous research on altruism and designs motivated components of these designs (Table 1). The identifiable victim
eect motivated the creation of design 3, consisting of a
mother with her child, and it also raises the question of the
eect of statistics. The question of whether large numbers
are useless, overwhelming, or expressive of the problems
magnitude was expressed in Designs 1 and 2. The eect of
pictures was tested with a lack of pictures in Design 1, and
two pictures in Design 2.
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Figure 2. Table set up. The Meet a Future Scientist sign is shown in
picture A. On the primary table there was a Letter of Consent set
out on the very right, the permission form to its left and a laptop to
its left as seen in the picture C. On the researchers side of the table,
there were blank Letters of Consent and permission forms in the
green folder and signed forms in the purple folder as seen in picture
B. There was another table beside it with space to walk around it.
The boxes were placed on the table as in picture D, with Box 1 by the
sign with the number 1 on it and so forth. There was a stool in front of
the laptop and a stool on the other side of the table.
Visitors of Science World on March 1st, March 12th and

March 13th, 2015 were asked if they would like to participate in research. Participants were asked to first read the letter of consent and then fill out the permission form and the
survey. Instructions for viewing the box and depositing the
coin were given by the researcher (Appendix B). The participant then went to look at the boxes and donated to the one
he or she chose, or put his or her token in the Keep box.
During this time, the researcher put the signed permission
form into the purple folder and placed another blank form in
its place and a new letter of consent was placed beside it. A
circle was drawn beside the orientation the participant went
in to determine which orientation the next participant would
have to go in. Having chosen a box, the researcher asked
the participant the final questions (the final paragraph of
Appendix A). The participants responses and the box he or
she chose, along with any other notes such as people with
ESTEAMED Scholars
the participant, were recorded with an iPad or iPhone onto

the Google spreadsheet with the surveys responses.
At the end of each data-collecting session, the numbers
of tokens put into each box were counted independently
thrice twice in real life, and once according to the recorded
results on the Google spreadsheet. Each box was emptied
into separate piles and they were counted separately. These
three totals (in real life and from the spreadsheet) were
checked to make sure that they matched. The total number
of tokens donated was counted on the orientation sheet as
well, once again checking the counted amounts.
Statistical Analysis
The Google spreadsheet was downloaded as a Microsoft
Excel spreadsheet. The COUNT function was used to count
the amount of donations into each box (Table 2).
Table 2. The amount of tokens donated into each box and the null
hypothesis that it was compared to. The Kept column represents
how many participants put their token in the Keep box. The
expected results are distributed equally across the boxes, not
Kept, because the studied variable was the designs on the boxes.
Keep was an alternative that probably would not receive an
equal amount of donations to the boxes even if the designs made
no dierence.
The amount of donations from men into each box was counted by hand, as well as the amount donated by women (Table
3). A chi-squared goodness of fit test (the CHITEST function
in Excel) was done comparing Box 1, Box 2 and Box 3 to the
null hypothesis that the donations were equally distributed.
Another chi-squared goodness of fit test (also CHITEST) was
done to compare male and female responses across the four
choices.
Table 3. The amount of tokens donated into each box by men and
by women. The Kept column represents how many participants
put their token in the Keep box. The Female row was used as the
null hypothesis (as if both results were equal).
Results
Fifty participants looked at three charity boxes and picked
one to donate to. Each box had a dierent design, each
testing a dierent design component (as seen in Table 1). Of
the 50 participants, 14 donated to Box 1, 20 donated to Box
2, 14 donated to Box 3, and 2 put their tokens in the Keep
box. This means that 28% of the participants donated to Box
1, 40% donated to Box 2, 28% donated to Box 3 and 4% put
their tokens in the Keep box, as seen in Figure 4 and Table
2.
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Figure 4. 14 tokens were donated to Box 1, which only had words.

20 tokens were donated to Box 2, which had pictures and statistics
to explain the size and importance of the problem. 14 tokens were
donated to Box 3, which showed one woman who needed help. 2
tokens were put into the Keep box, representing that they would
keep their money (labeled as Kept).
In the chi-squared goodness of fit test comparing the three

boxes, the p-value was 0.47>0.05= meaning that the difference between the boxes was not significant.
A chi-squared goodness of fit test was done comparing
donations to Box 1, Box 2, Box 3, and Keep between men
and women. The womens results were used as a null hypothesis because if there were no dierence between men
and women, their results would be the same. The p-value
was 0.30>0.05= meaning the dierence between men
and women was not significant. The data that was tested is
displayed in Table 3.
The participants were asked why they chose one box over
the others. The most common reasons for donating to
Box 1 were that the statement Lets end Malaria seemed
determined and convicted which led people to give, the
large numbers helped show the size of the problem, and it
was not overly specific which helped people understand
the problem as a whole, not just a part of it. The most
common reasons for donating to Box 2 were that the visual
graphs and large data showed the size of the problem, the
diagrams were clear and eective, and the large data and
graphs helped people understand the large amount of aid
needed. The most frequent reasons for donating to Box 3
were that it created an emotional connection to an individual and a family which made people more willing to help, and
that the statistics on children dying every minute made it
seem like a big issue that needed the most help. The reason
why two participants put their token in the Keep box was
because they wanted more specifics on what would actually
be done, and wanted to know that the charity would actually fight Malaria.
Discussion
The data was not significant for two key possible reasons.
Firstly, and more importantly, each design had various statements, facts and images on it. This caused multiple factors to
influence decisions for any one box. This makes it dicult to
37
form any conclusions about one design feature. The multiple factors may have caused an even distribution to form. If
only one key factor was studied, a clearer result could have
formed. For example, peoples reactions to a large statistic
compared to their reactions to a comprehensible smaller
statement could be tested, such as 500,000 people die
compared to a person dies every minute. These designs
with multiple components were realistic, but the existence
of multiple factors may have meant that no significant results
could form. Secondly, the small sample size of 50 people
may not have allowed for large dierences between the
boxes results to occur.
From the qualitative responses collected during this experiment, it appears that people chose a box due to an
emotional reaction, scale of the problem, and specificity
of data. With this knowledge, future experiments could be
done to test these individual factors. Surprisingly, having
large numbers did not overwhelm participants, and actually
motivated them to donate because the data showed the size
and importance of the problem. Of the 43 participants who
explained their reasoning, 23 of them (53%) said that the
size of the problem and statistics influenced them. Emotion
was a factor for a few participants, mostly those who donated to Box 3, but a few who donated to Box 2. Of the 43 participants asked for their reasoning, 8 participants explicitly
mentioned emotion (19%). However, it was apparently not
an extremely superior factor, as Box 3 was not significantly
better than the others, and received fewer donations that
Box 2. Box 2 was possibly the most successful (though not
significantly so) because it had multiple eective components clear diagrams and statistics that showed the scale of
the problem, a visual of suering which formed an emotional connection, and a sense of conviction in the statement
You can make a dierence.
thought they were attracted to and made them donate, so

each specific one could be broken apart and analyzed (as
discussed with the large and small statistic example above).
Another extension of this project is to only have one box at
a time, to see if the decision is being warped by participants
comparing boxes to each other. This would also more closely resemble real life in which boxes are normally seen one at
a time. The final recommendation for extending this project
is to bring it to a more general population. The research was
conducted on people in Science World which was a selection bias. Perhaps Science World visitors favour one box to
another, more than other people, so to draw more accurate
conclusions, random people should be questioned.
References
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. Print.
Kirkpatrick, E.A. An Experimental Study of Memory. APA
PsycNET. PsycARTICLES, 1 Nov. 1894. Web. 08 Apr. 2015.
Small, Deborah A., and George LOEWENSTEIN. C 2003
Kluwer Academic Publishers. Manufactured in The Netherlands. Helping a Victim or Helping the Victim: (2003): n.
pag. Carnegie Mellon University. The Journal of Risk and
Uncertainty, 1 Jan. 2003. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.
Tversky, Amos, and Daniel Kahneman. The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice. Science: The Framing
of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice. Science, 30 Jan.
1981. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.
Yonge Corporate Center, Yonge Corporate Center, comp.
CANADIAN BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION (n.d.): n. pag.
CANADIAN BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION FINANCIALS.
Yonge Corporate Center, 21 June 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.
Using the System 1 and System 2 model set out by Daniel

Kahneman (2011) in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, with
System 1 being emotional and instinctive thought and System 2 being logical and contemplative reasoning, it seems
that people put a lot of thought into where their money
goes, meaning that System 2 had precedence. Mostly,
people did not instinctively go with their System 1 emotions
and pick Box 3, although about 19% did. People seemed
to put a fair amount of thought into the box they selected,
probably because participants wanted to make a thorough
decision, as they were parting with theoretical money.
There was no significant dierence between men and
women either. The thought process that men went through
was most likely very similar to that of women, resulting in
no significant dierence. However, it is possible that men
and women had dierent thought processes that reached
the same result. Each box had multiple factors so some may
have caused men to donate while dierent ones caused
women to donate. There could be a dierence in the reasons why they picked a box, so the factors would need to be
investigated separately to do this.
Altogether, this experiment was a starting point for further
research. It identified some specific factors that people
38
ESTEAMED Scholars
ESTEAMED Scholars
39
The Key-wi to Health: Measuring How Ripeness Affects Vitamin C Content in

Kiwi Fruit
Lauren Dobischok, grade 12, Maple Ridge Secondary
Vitamin C is a vitamin essential for normal growth and maintenance of tissue, bones, and blood. It cannot be stored in the
body, so humans must obtain it through foods high in ascorbic acid such as fruit. Some studies suggest that the ripeness of
fruit aects the nutritional content, including the level of vitamin C. As kiwi fruit is an exceptional source of vitamin C, the
juice of unripe and ripe kiwis were collected measured on a DCPIP standard curve to determine ascorbic acid content. It
was found there is a statistically significant dierence in the ascorbic acid content of ripe versus unripe kiwi juice, with riper
juice having greater vitamin C content. Future research into this field is needed to understand when kiwi fruit has the highest
vitamin C content, and whether vitamin C levels vary with ripeness in other fruits.
Canadas Food Guide recommends that adults consume
a minimum of 75mg of Vitamin C a day for good health.
Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, works to protect gums and
repair blood, bones, and tissue. It also plays a role in healing
injuries and aids in iron absorption (Maryland Medical Centre 2014). It has been suggested that ascorbic acid can also
prevent heart disease (Tribble 1999) and showed promise in
treating some cancers (Padayatty 2006). The human body
cannot store vitamin C, and any excess is removed in urine
(Eat Right Ontario 2015). This is why it is important to consume vitamin C rich foods daily, such as fruits and vegetables. A fruit with an exceptionally high ascorbic acid content
is kiwis. Some studies have found that fruit at varying stages
of ripeness have higher or lower nutritional value (Rao
2002). The ripening of fruit is caused by the natural release
of ethylene gas over time that causes the characteristic
softening in texture and sweeter taste in fruit deemed as ripe
(Blankenship, 2000). In this experiment, fruit bough fresh
will be compared to fruit that has been stored at room temperature for three weeks, allowing ample time for ripening
to occur. By investigating how vitamin and nutrient content
changes as fruit and vegetables ripen, the optimal time to
consume fruit and vegetables when its nutritional content is
the highest can be determined. This project measured how
ripeness aects the ascorbic acid content in kiwi fruit. It is
hypothesized that riper kiwis will have a higher vitamin C
content.
the experimental data can be compared to. Once DCPIP

samples with known ascorbic acid concentration are determined, juice samples with an unknown DCPIP concentration
can be compared to the standard to determine the unknown
values. By developing the standard curve, the content of
Vitamin C in the juice samples can be determined. The glassware, Ascorbic Acid, and procedure were from Carolina
Biologicals ChemKit Vitamin C in Fruit Juices (Carolina Biological 2012). Five test tubes were labelled 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5,
and 2.0 with tape. Next, the ascorbic acid stock solution
was prepared by combining 0.2 g Ascorbic Acid and 100mL
distilled water, measured through a burette. Three 100mL
beakers were filled with 20mL each of water, 0.25% DCPIP,
and Ascorbic Acid solution. DCPIP is an indicator known to
turn pink in acidic solutions (MP Bio, 2014). The test tubes
were filled with ascorbic acid and water according to the
manual to create solutions that contained 0g AA, 0.5G AA,
1.0g AA, 1.5g AA, and 2.0g AA. The amount of AA solution
in each test tube corresponded to the label on the tube.
One drop of DCPIP was added to the 0g test tube to create
the endpoint colour- a clear blue. The aim of the experiment
was to try and achieve this colour with all the test tubes.
The new volume of the 0g AA solution and the DCPIP was
recorded. For the 0.5g test tube, DCPIP was dropped into
the solution until it turned the same colour, and the new volume was recorded.With highly acidic solutions, the DCPIP is
known to turn purple-red rather than blue. In this case, we
added DCPIP until it made a similar intensity and darkness of
purple to the initial blue endpoint. These steps were repeated for all five test tubes to create the standard curve.
Testing Juice Samples
Collecting Juice
Using two new test tubes, 2mL of the two ripe kiwi juice
samples (Juice A and B) DCPIP was added until the juice
reached the endpoint colour, and the final volume was
measured. The measurement of volume was taken twice as
a technical replicate. These steps were repeated with the
unripe kiwi juice samples (Juice C and D). This experiment
was repeated again and duplicate measurements taken,
resulting in four technical replicates of the volume of DCPIP
added. The standard curve data was put into a line graph,
with the juice points added. Using Microsoft Excel, the
equation of the standard curve was determined (y=mx+b)
which could now be used to convert the volume DCPIP added to the grams of Vitamin C present in each juice sample.
Introduction
Three weeks prior to starting the experiment, two bags of

kiwis were purchased and stored at room temperature in a
kitchen setting with moderate levels of daylight. They were
labeled Juice A and B respectively and would serve as
the Ripe juice sample group. The day before the experiment, two bags of fresh kiwis were purchased. They were
labeled Juice C and D respectively and would serve as
the Unripe juice sample group. The following day, four
juice samples were determined by selecting twelve kiwis at
random from each bag. Each group of kiwi fruit was then cut
up and squeezed over a strainer and stored in glass jars.
Creating Standard Curve and Ascorbic Acid Stock Solution
The standard curve serves as a reference point for which
40
ESTEAMED Scholars
Results
It was hypothesized that kiwi juice that had been stored at
room temperature for three weeks and was soft to the touch
would have greater vitamin C content than the juice of hard
kiwis bought fresh. The juice of kiwi fruit at dierent stages
of ripeness was measured on a DCPIP standard curve slope
using the equation y= 0.4176x + 0.0262 to determine
ascorbic acid content in grams (Fig. 1). It was found that the
juice of ripe kiwis (Juice A and B) contained 1.31 and 1.25
grams of vitamin C, respectively. The juice from the unripe
kiwis (Juice C and D) contained 1.05 and 1.06 grams of vitamin C respectively (Table 1, Fig.2). A T-Test on these values
gives a P value of 0.01845153. As the P value < 0.05, the
results are statistically significant.
Figure 2: Bars indicate the average volume of DCPIP added to

each juice sample (A, B, C, D). The standard deviation calculation
is reflected in the error bars. Juice samples A and B are coloured
dark blue to indicate they are both from the same test group (ripe),
while C and D and light blue to indicate they are from the unripe test
group.
Discussion
Figure 1: Standard curve developed using solutions with known

amounts of vitamin C added to them. Points in blue are the standard curve samples measured. Equation of curve is y= 0.4176x
+ 0.0262. Juice samples A and B, also known as the ripe juice
samples are labeled in red, samples C and D labeled in green. By
placing each juice sample with an unknown vitamin C concentration on the standard curve, concentration can be determined.
The experiment results showed that there is no significant

dierence in the vitamin C content of ripe and unripe kiwi
juice. The ripe juice had a slightly higher ascorbic acid content reading than the unripe kiwi juice in some trials, but the
dierence was small and in some trials equal in ascorbic acid
content to the unripe juice. In addition to having vitamin C
values close in range, a high degree of standard deviation
created overlapping error bars, a sign of statistical insignificance. However, the T-Test revealed that the P value < 0.05,
meaning the results are statistically significant. Another
thing to consider is that there is a degree of error in using
redox dye DCPIP in the experiment as it did not turn the blue
colour of the endpoint in acidic solutions, turning purple
instead. The inaccuracy of volume printed on glassware and
quality of kiwi fruit could also be a source of error. The result
that the ripeness of a kiwi fruit does not aect the vitamin
C content is beneficial to consumers in that they need not
worry about the ripeness of their fruit when eating kiwi
for its vitamin C content and associated benefits. Further
experiment possibilities include repeating the experiment
with a new redox dye, and comparing the vitamin C content
in dierent species of kiwi.
References
Blankenship, Sylvia. Ethylene: The Ripening Hormone.
Postharvest Information Network. Washington State University, 14 Mar. 2000. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Table 1: Raw data including technical quadruplicate measurements

of volume DCPIP. Concentration Vitamin C in each sample was calculated using slop equation y= 0.4176x + 0.0262. Average vitamin
C content calculated.
Carolina, Biological. Vitamin C in Fruit Juices. 2012. Print.

2,6-DICHLOROINDOPHENOL SODIUM SALT. MP Bio. MP
Bio, 3 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.mpbio.
com/product.php?pid=02150118&country=38>.
Eat Right Ontario. Dietitians of Canada, 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 15
Mar. 2015. <https://www.eatrightontario.ca/en/Articles/
Nutrients-(vitamins-and-minerals)/What-you-need-to-knowabout-vitamin-C.aspx#.VSX_udwUX8F>.
Padayatty, Sebastian, and Hugh Riordan. Intravenously
Administered Vitamin C as Cancer Therapy: Three Cases.
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CMAJ 174.7 (2006): 937-42. Print.

Pineli, Livia et al. Antioxidants and Other Chemical and
Physical Characteristics of Two Strawberry Cultivars at
Dierent Ripeness Stages. Journal of Food Composition
and Analysis 24.1 (2011): 11-16. Science Direct. Web. 17 Mar.
2015. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/
pii/S0889157510001742>.
Rao, Antonio et al. Previous Article Next Article Table of
Contents Nutritional Value of Cherry Tomatoes (Lycopersicon Esculentum Cv. Naomi F1) Harvested at Dierent Ripening Stages. J. Agric. Food Chem 50.22 (2002): 6550-556.
Print.
Tribble, Diane. Antioxidant Consumption and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: Emphasis on Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and
B-Carotene. Circulation 1999.99 (1999): 591-95. Print.
University of Maryland Medical Centre. Maryland Medical
System, 20 June 2013. Web. 15 Mar. 2015. <http://umm.
edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/vitamin-c-ascorbic-acid>.
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ESTEAMED Scholars
The Effect of UV Light on Bacteria Isolated from Danone Activia Yogurt

Jastina Aujla, grade 11, Crofton House
Vitamin C is a vitamin essential for normal growth and maintenance of tissue, bones, and blood. It cannot be stored in the
body, so humans must obtain it through foods high in ascorbic acid such as fruit. Some studies suggest that the ripeness of
fruit aects the nutritional content, including the level of vitamin C. As kiwi fruit is an exceptional source of vitamin C, the
juice of unripe and ripe kiwis were collected measured on a DCPIP standard curve to determine ascorbic acid content. It
was found there is a statistically significant dierence in the ascorbic acid content of ripe versus unripe kiwi juice, with riper
juice having greater vitamin C content. Future research into this field is needed to understand when kiwi fruit has the highest
vitamin C content, and whether vitamin C levels vary with ripeness in other fruits.
Introduction
According to a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, probiotic bacteria can enhance immune
function, improve digestion and elimination, and decrease
allergic reactions (Milne). Unfortunately, dierent conditions
aect the viability of bacteria. The focus of this experiment
was to test whether UV light could aect the bacteria within
yogurt thus altering its possible benefits. To answer this
question, serratia marcescens, a UV sensitive bacteria (Lai),
was used as the positive control to ensure the UV lamps
used for the experiment worked. Bacteria isolated from
yogurt colonies were diluted to 500 cells/mL and plated
on agar plates. These plates were exposed to a wavelength
of 254 nm for 10 and 30 minutes. Exposure to UV light
under these conditions killed both isolated yogurt bacteria
and serratia marcescens. These results suggest that yogurt
should be kept in containers that prevent UV exposure.
Material and Methods
Set-Up
Yogurt bacteria were isolated from yogurt (Danone Activia
Vanilla), by purifying single colonies. These colonies were
then pooled to create a suspension of yogurt isolated
bacteria. Both serratia marcescens (Carolina biological) and
yogurt isolated bacteria were grown on nutrient agar plates
at room temperature. Suspensions of both yogurt bacteria
and the serratia marcescens were made in sterile water. The
OD600 was measured on a spectrophotometer and both
cell suspensions were diluted to 500 cells/mL and 5000
cells/mL.
Collecting Data
Bacterial colonies grew up for four days at room temperature. The colonies were counted twice using a sharpie and a
counter.
Results
The first experiment conducted was to see if the UV lamp
worked as expected and that was by using UV sensitive bacteria, serratia marcescens. The serratia marcescens was plated and exposed to the UV light. When exposed to the UV
lamp, there was no growth on the eighteen plates except for
contamination on two plates. The serratia marcescens colonies grew up well on the plates that were not exposed. The
experiment was repeated with yogurt isolated bacteria and
serratia as a control. The plates exposed for 10 minutes and
30 minutes had no growth or contamination on either the
yogurt isolated bacterial plates, or the serratia marcescens
plates. The non-exposed plates from the isolated yogurt
bacteria had a substantial amount of growth with an average
of 443 colonies, and the non-exposed serratia marcescens
plates had an average growth of approximately 101 colonies
(Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, Figure 2).
Exposure
100L of the yogurt isolated bacteria suspension with a dilution factor of 500 cells/mL was plated on to nine separate
plates. This was repeated with the suspension with a dilution factor of were plated of the 5000 cell/mL. A suspension
of the serratia marcescens diluted to 500 cells/mL and 5000
cells/mL were plated on to eighteen plates nine plates per
suspension. Three plates from each serratia and yogurt isolated bacteria at 500 cells/mL and 5000 cells/mL were not
exposed, three plates were exposed for ten minutes, and
the remaining three plates were exposed for thirty minutes.
An UV lamp from a biosafety cabinet was used as the UV
source.
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Table 1
Figure 1: Number of CFU developed from probiotic yogurt when

exposed to UV light for 0, 10 and 30 minutes. The bacteria in the
yogurt was isolated and diluted to a factor of 500 cells/mL (dilution
series 5) and a factor of 5000 cells/mL (dilution series 6), 100L of
the yogurt isolated bacteria suspension was plated on nutrient agar
and exposed for designated times.
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Table 2
Figure 2: Number of CFU developed from serratia marcescens when

exposed to UV light for 0, 10 and 30 minutes. The bacteria was
bought and diluted to a factor of 500 cells/mL (dilution series 5) and
a factor of 5000 cells/mL (dilution series 6), 100L of the serratia
marcescens suspension was plated on nutrient agar and exposed
for designated times.
ESTEAMED Scholars
Discussion
References
After analyzing the data, the yogurt bacteria did not grow
up under the UV light when exposed for 10 or 30 minutes.
The UV hood lamp used in labs serve the purpose to kill bacteria on equipment, therefore the yogurt bacteria was killed
within 10 minutes of exposure. The UV hood lamp emits
the light directly on to the plates, which is not similar to the
UV light from the sun which is blocked by vegetation, the
source of UV light is not as close to the object, and therefore
this experiment is not an exact representation of response of
the yogurt bacteria when exposed to UV light. The bacteria
was also exposed directly to the UV light and the container
which the yogurt bacteria is within may protect the bacteria
from the UV light. From this experiment, it was possible
to identify the yogurt bacteria as being UV sensitive In the
future, the eect of UV light to the yogurt bacteria within the
container could be tested to see how the yogurt bacteria is
exposed to UV light indirectly.
Lai, Ka M., Harriet A. Burge, and Melvin W. First. Size and

UV Germicidal Irradiation
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Susceptibility of Serratia Marcescens When Aerosolized

from Dierent Suspending Media. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70.4 (2004): 20212027. PMC. Web.
25 Apr. 2015.
Milne, Celia. Probiotic yogurts: Are they really good for
you? Globe and Mail. The Globe
and Mail, 07 May 2010. Web. 27 Apr 2015.
Saarelaa, Maria et al. Probiotic bacteria: safety, functional
and technological properties.
Journal of Biotechnology. Volume 84. Issue 3, 28 December
2000: Pages 197215.
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ESTEAMED Scholars
Year 2 - Engineering
For the FSL Year 2 Engineering students, term one (September-December) focused on skill building through planned activities. Additionally, students were invited to work on an exciting project; the Lighting Architecture Movement Project (LAMP),
where in groups, they designed and built lighting fixtures which were exhibited along with competitive designers lighting
creations at a show in November.
In term two (January-April) students used the skills learned in term one to create their own original design projects. Students
were guided through the process of executing a project by Dr. Jane OHara and Dr. Catherine Anderson; projects were based
on an idea chosen by each student, with the goal of exhibiting them at Mini Maker Faire in June.
Step 1: Choosing a project idea
Mentors representing various sectors including the technology industry, students of technology, and engineering professionals were invited to Science World to serve as sounding boards for the students initial ideas. In this lively speed mentoring
session they discussed feasibility and logistics of these projects.
Once an idea had been narrowed down, students wrote two iterations of a project proposal for what they wanted to do.
Our criteria for their projects were:
their idea had to be novel, or to add a novel aspect to an existing invention;
they had to incorporate at least three of the following skills learned in term one into their projects: 3D design and printing, electronic circuitry, soft circuitry, programming, soldering and carpentry
Step 2: Working on the projects and troubleshooting throughout

Students were given a budget for their projects, with a base amount to which some money was added or subtracted based
on work completed satisfactorily in term one. In their final project proposals, materials were chosen that had to fall within the
budget and be easily sourced by FSL instructors.
As students worked through their projects at Science World each week, documentation was required to be filed and to-do
lists made and checked o, so that they could keep track of their progress.
Mentors were also involved in students projects; using online software called Basecamp, students posted updates, diagrams, and asked questions of the mentors, prompting discussion and ideas for troubleshooting.
This stream of Future Science Leaders was led by Dr. Jane OHara.
Dr. Jane OHara hails from Ireland, where she was awarded a PhD in Cancer Biology from the Royal
College of Surgeons in 2011 before hot-footing it to Vancouver to pursue science work opportunities. As well as working as the Engineering Instructor for Future Science Leaders, she is a postdoctoral researcher in Science Education at UBC, where she investigates the attitudes of high school
students toward science and creativity. Jane can also be found running long distances, making
travel plans, and trying anything outdoorsy in this city whose frequent rainfall evokes fond memories of home.
ESTEAMED Scholars
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Author Biographies
Carol (Jiaying) He
Hello! I am Carol, an avid lover of THE ARTS; during my free time, I love to sew, draw, paint, play
music, participate in musical theatre, cosplay, prop and costume making, and a whole bucket full
of other hobbies! I follow many dierent styles of fashions, focusing specifically on the j-fashions
of otome and lolita.
SCIENCE is also one of my passions; my dream is to connect science with fashion to make beautiful and geeky things!
Dant Wong
Hello, my name is Dant and I go to school at Alpha Secondary in Burnaby. I hope to become a
lifeguard and I currently have my CPR-A and Basic First Aid certifications. For the past two years, I
have volunteered in a micro-biology lab at SFU and have subcloned a V. cholerae gene as well as
doing a small scale protein induction experiment. My main scientific interests are Biology, Physics and Astronomy, though I am interested in many other fields. I plan on continuing on with the
sciences in University, with the goal of eventually being accepted into medical school.
Alice Man
Hello, my name is Alice Man and I am an IB Diploma student at Richmond Secondary School. I was
inspired to do my project because I wanted to learn more about using computer programs and
about the applications that expert systems may have on areas such as criminology and medicine.
In the future, I definitely want to pursue a career related to science and technology where I can
take part in the formation of new ideas. Outside of my academic endeavours, I enjoy playing badminton, painting, playing flute, and of course, providing first aid service in and out of school.
Hallie Jones
Hallie, a grade 11 student at Stratford Hall, has not taken the most conventional route to becoming
interested in science, her background actually stems from a series of artistic endeavors. Growing
up she was constantly involved in artistic programs such as circus and deeply loved the creativity that these called for. Her interest in science emerged a few years ago. Having always been
mesmerized by the universe, she decided to explore the field of astronomy, which, to her, meant
building a telescope taller than she is. The creativity involved in this project lead Hallie to discover
her love of science.
Parker Wieck
Hi, my name is Parker Wieck. I came up to Vancouver when I was five from the southern USA, Ive
had a thirst for knowledge and creation for as long as I remember. Building my very first lego and
asking how lights turn on are my earliest memories of Canada. My interest grew and focused, I
ended up at FSL because school didnt go to a depth of learning I desired. Now in year two Engineering Ive gotten the chance to apply the creative part of my desire.
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ESTEAMED Scholars
Miss Universe: Integration of Soft Circuitry into Dress of an Artistic Fashion

Carol He, grade 11, Port Moody Secondary
This project seeks to incorporate science into art by using soft circuit technology to enhance the visual eectiveness of an
artistic garment, a dress constructed from scratch. This constellation inspired piece features ribbon LED lights embedded
in the shape of constellations on a ballgown dress, overlayed with chion and tulle to create depth and movement. Additional embroidery serves to compliment the LED constellations, while bringing in a touch of colour and detail to create an
ethereal, magical atmosphere.
Introduction
Many people would assume science and art to be separate
fields, but this claim may change with the development of
soft circuitry- the integration of electronic devices into textiles. This project seeks to utilize soft circuitry to enhance the
visual eectiveness of an artistic piece of formal wear, constructed from scratch. The inspiration for this piece comes
from Angela Claytons Christmas Angel Costume (Clayton,
2013), another light up work made of strings of Christmas
lights. This project draws a similar shape and construction,
but is lit using LED ribbon lights sewn into constellations (taken with artistic liberty), with multiple flashing and dimming
settings. Since space/star themed garments have become
a popular trend, incorporating soft circuit lights as stars and
constellations into a space-themed dress may add extra artistic value/ enhance artistic eect. The end product will feature
a structured bodice made of cotton poplin with tulle overlay.
The bodice will be boned with spiral steel boning, with a zip
closure. The skirt will be of ballgown shape, with multiple
layers of tulle and chion overlaying the LED constellations
to create a sense of depth and movement. Embroidery will
be done around the bodice and top of the skirt to add colour
and embellishment.
Progress/ Materials and Methods
Fig. 1. Half circle skirt, with lights sewn on. Image by Carol He
terns that will be sewn onto the skirt. The half circle skirt was
obtained by cutting the fabric into a rectangle of which dimensions measure (x) and (2x), where x is the desired length
of the skirt plus the radius of 3 times the circumference of the
waist measurement.
Fig. 2. Diagram of Measurements. Diagram by Carol He
Materials
In the body of the dress, 5 meters of dark blue cotton poplin
and 5 meters of black tulle overlay, 8 meters of tulle netting,
two meters of black chion, (8) 21cm spiral steel boning, and
one dark blue invisible zipper were used. In the circuitry
portion, 4.5 meters of Adafruit Litex White LED on Black Ribbon Pack, and 3 additional Adafruit Litex Ribbon LED battery
packs were used. 30 3D printed LED covers designed using
TinkerCAD and printed using the Ditto+, as well as silver and
gold thread were used as embellishments. Common sewing
notions that were also utilized include fabric shears, pins,
newspaper, pencil, chalk,sewing machine, handsewing needle, and thread.
Methods
Skirt Assembly
The skirt of the dress starts o with a half circle skirt (Fig. 1).
The half circle skirt will allow the skirt to lay flat once supported by the petticoat, better displaying the constellation pat-
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The radius of the waist measurement (r) was calculated

through (waist circumference) x3 / 2. After this value was
calculated, the fabric rectangle was folded in half lengthwise
so that it forms a square of x by x.
Fig. 3. Diagram of measurement 2. Diagram by Carol He
At this point, a half circle with the radius of the waist measurement was cut out from one of the two corners bordering
a fold. To cut, (r) was measured out starting from the corner,
and marked, repeated as many times as needed in order to
draw a smooth curve from one edge to another. This process
was again utilized using the (x) value, to mark out the hem of
the skirt. Scissors were used to cut along the marked lines.
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After cutting, the hem of the skirt was French hemmed using
a sewing machine. The other edges will remain raw until the
final assembly of the product.
LED assembly
Each strip of LED ribbon was divided in half equally. The battery pack was attached to the strips without one, according
to directions in the package. Using reference images, one
strip of LEDs was pinned into the shape of a constellation,
with each light corresponding to a star (Fig. 2). The placement of the LEDs and the selection of constellations are entirely up to artistic interpretation (Fig. 3).
The front half of the bust (From the underarms forwards,

where the side seam would usually be) was divided into four,
and the waist measurement divided into eight. The back half
of the bust measurement was also divided into four. The four
frontal pieces were drafted with the front bust measurement and 1/8 of the total waist measurement, with a height
of top of chest to natural waist. Likewise, the back pieces
were drafted with the back bust measurement and 1/8 of
the total waist measurement, with a height of underarms to
natural waist. The drafted pieces were then cut out with 1
inch seam allowances to make a mock up. After the mockup
was fitted and adjusted, the mock up pieces were cut out and
used as a pattern to make the actual bodice with (Fig.4).
Fig. 6. One layer of the bodice assembled. Image by Carol He

Fig. 4. A Constellation sewn on. Image by Carol He
Fig. 5. Some of the constellations this piece utilized. Other

constellations taken with artistic liberty. (Bresson, 2012)
In this project, the LED constellations were positioned in a

staggered pattern around the mid-low section of the skirt.
This step was then repeated with all of the remaining LED
strips. The lights were sewn down once they had all been
pinned.
Bodice Assembly
The bodice of this project was entirely drafted from scratch.
The waist and bust measurements were calculated and pieces drafted in newsprint. There are nine pieces in total in this
bodice, with the shape of each piece based roughly on the
bodice of Angela Claytons Diaphanous Flower Dress.
(Clayton, 2014)
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Discussion
Currently this project is incomplete. However, this has been a
challenging task. New technical skills were perused by tackling a fitted, boned bodice. This is particularly dicult since
precise measurements must be taken to ensure an accurate
fit. Stitching, boning channels, and zippers must be accurately and neatly sewn in, since messiness may throw o the
fit of the garment. The skirt was, surprisingly, the simpler part
of the piece, mostly involving creative tasks such as positioning lights, and manual labor such as cutting, stitching, and
sewing. Additional tasks that are yet to be completed include
modeling, printing, and sewing on 3D light covers, gathering tulle and chion onto the bodice and skirt, completing
the inner and outer layers of the bodice and inserting boning
channels, installing a zipper, and additional embroidery.
References
Clayton, Angela. Diaphanous Flower Dress, Part Two. Angela Claytons Costumery Creations. 7 Aug. 2014. Web. 21 Apr.
2015. https://doxiequeen1.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/
diaphanous-flower-dress-part-two/
Clayton, Angela. The Christmas Costume, Photos. Angela
Claytons Costumery Creations. 24 Dec. 2013. Web. 19 Apr.
2015. https://doxiequeen1.wordpress.com/2013/12/24/
the-christmas-costume-photos/
Bresson, Thomas. Star Constellations in Milky Way. Digital
image. Flickr. 22 July 2012. Web. https://flic.kr/p/cCU6hC
ESTEAMED Scholars
Harvesting Waste Energy from Water Hammers

Dant Wong, grade 10, cole Alpha Secondary
When a tap is quickly turned o in a plumbing system, the moving column of water suddenly has no place to go. It hits up
against the closed valve, creating a pressure surge or water hammer, which then reflects back and forth throughout the
closed system until the energy is dissipated. If this waste energy could be harvested, it could be used to recharge small electronic devices or to power other low energy applications. For my Original project, I designed and built an improved water
hammer energy harvester using a bicycle pump, a home built motor, and a diode bridge based on an original prototype
which I also designed, built and tested.
Energy harvesting is a rapidly expanding field in research
and industry. It is the process where small amounts of ambient or environmental energy, which would otherwise be lost
as heat, light, sound, vibration or movement is captured and
converted into usable electric energy (Yusuf et al, 2013). This
power is then used to run or recharge small, wireless electronic devices such as cell phones, GPS devices, tablets and
wireless sensor networks (Paradiso & Starner, 2005; Mitcheson et al, 2008). Because the energy captured would otherwise be wasted and is usually the byproduct of something
as simple as a person walking, a train passing by, sunlight
shining on a specific location or waves moving across the surface of the ocean, energy harvesting is an environmentally
benign and sustainable process.
Most energy harvesting systems include circuitry to charge
an energy storage cell and manage the power, providing
regulation and protection. Depending on the energy source,
the capture device diers; light energy is usually captured
by photovoltaic cells (Graetzel, 2005), pressure or vibration
by piezoelectric elements (Sodano et al, 2004), temperature dierentials by thermoelectric generators (Sodano et al,
2007), and radio energy by antennae (Pavone et al, 2012).
There are a wide variety of energy sources, some of which
are currently being used and others which are being studied
for potential use. For example, thermal energy can be scavenged from furnaces and car exhaust pipes (Hsu et al, 2012),
light energy from sunlight or artificial room light (Carvalho
& Paulino, 2014)), electromagnetic energy from coils and
transformers (Noras & Maciej, 2013), natural energy from the
wind (Weimer et al, 2006), water flow (Homan et al, 2013),
ocean depths (Liu, 2014) and waves (Bastien et al, 2009),
and human body energy (mechanical, [Yang et al, 2007] and
biochemical) from movement (Rao et al, 2013), breathing
(Abdi et al, 2014) and cellular processes (Energy Harvesting
Network, 2011; Wang & Wu, 2012).
As part of my Science Fair project, I searched for an unrecognized source of waste water pressure dierentials whose
energy could be harvested. Some sources have already been
identified and devices are being proposed or built, for example: a piezoelectric roof tile that captures the energy of falling
raindrops (Delichatsios, 2012) and a microhydro generator
that captures the energy of collected rainwater falling from
a highrise buildings roof to the ground (Martin & Shrivastava, 2013). After absentmindedly shutting a water tap in our
house really quickly one day and hearing the plumbing pipes
rattle as a result, I realized that I had accidentally found another source of water pressure dierentials: a water hammer.
A water hammer is the pressure surge, also known as the hyESTEAMED Scholars
draulic shock, that causes the rattling or hammering I had just

heard in the pipes. It happens in a plumbing system when a
valve or tap is suddenly closed, causing the flowing water
column to come to an abrupt stop. This sudden change in
momentum causes a shock wave that reverberates throughout the closed system and which can be heard as a knocking
sound (Nourbakhsh, 2008; Evans, 2011). Domestic plumbing system water hammers can be generated not only by
taps being manually closed quickly but also by washing machines, dishwashers or toilets.
Figure #1: What is a Water Hammer?
In thermodynamic terms, due to the law of conservation of

energy, the velocity energy of the water column is rapidly converted to pressure energy. Since water is an incompres-sible
fluid, this pressure energy can be very high, reaching up to
five times the systems normal pressure very quickly (Nourbakhsh, 2008; Apsley, 2013; Zaruba, 1993). This is why,
rather than trying to harvest the energy from water hammers,
there is a substantial amount of eort put into avoiding water hammers. Water hammers can create significant damage,
not only in domestic plumbing systems but in larger systems
such as water supply pipelines (Ludecke & Kothe; Xylem, Inc,
2012) and hydroelectric generating stations (Cruz & Cesario,
2009).With the pressure surge rapidly oscillating back and
forth within the closed system, pipes can rattle, loosening
fittings and joints, stressing weak points within the pipes
themselves and causing rupture (BuildersWebSource, 2012).
On a domestic scale, this means a pipe may burst and water
sprays uncontrolled until the city water supply is shut o. On
an industrial scale, as in the case of the Russian Sayano-Sushenskaya hydroelectric generating station water hammer disaster in 2009, the consequences can be deadly. 76 people
died after a water hammer unseated one of the giant turbines
and led to the collapse and flooding of the station (Cruz &
Cesario, 2009).
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Figure #2: Water Hammer Damage in a Domestic Pipe

Image Owned by Waterworx Plumbing Solutions.com.
Figure #3: Water Hammer Damage in a Water Supply Pipeline

Image Owned by Xylem Inc. 2012.
Knowing that water hammers still occur, even when water

hammer arrestors are present, I then measured flow rates and
water pressure dierentials in our house, opening and rapidly closing taps at seven dierent locations in the plumbing
system. Bernoulis Equation for an incompressible fluid (water) was used to calculate the ideal amount of power generated by water hammers at each tap (SmallHydro.com, 2009).
P = npghQ
Figure #4: Water Hammer Damage at a

Hydroelectric Generating Plant
Image Owned by Cruz, E., and Cesario, R. 2009.
Wherein P is power (kW), n is eciency of energy transfer

(as a percentage, 100% in this ideal case), p is the density
of water (1,000 kg/m3), g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.8071 m/s2), h is head or pressure dierence (1 kPa =
0.120m), and Q is flow rate (m3/s).
To avoid the damage caused by water hammer, older domestic plumbing systems usually have pipe risers at each junction
which originally trapped air pockets when the system was first
installed. These air filled risers would act as natural dampers,
since air is compressible while water is not, compressing as
they absorbed the shock waves oscillating within the closed
system (BuildersWebSource, 2012). However, over time, this
air is absorbed into the water (Engineering ToolBox, 2015).
Now there are devices, called water hammer arrestors or
pulsation dampeners, which are used instead of risers. Like a
riser, the water hammer arrestor uses air as a shock wave absorber but in this case, the air chamber is sealed and does not
come in contact with the water. Instead, the pressure surge
pushes a piston which in turn compresses the air in the sealed
chamber, dampening the wave (RMC.com).
However, even with three water hammer arrestors installed,
our houses plumbing system still generates enough of a water hammer that it can be heard knocking the pipes on occasion. Water hammers can also be heard in large, older apartment buildings and institutional buildings such as schools
and hospitals. One example where water hammers can be
heard is the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria.
Figure #5: A Water Hammer Arrestor
Image Owned by Plumbing Supply.com.
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ESTEAMED Scholars
Table #1: Calculation of the Ideal Power Generated by Water Hammers in a Domestic Plumbing System
* All means calculated from 5 measured trials per faucet
**Ideal power available calculated using means from 5 measured trials per faucet
As Table #1 shows, ideal power calculated to be generated

by water hammers varied from 1.1 to 140kW. Table #2 lists the
power necessary to recharge various electronic devices (for
example, 0.002kW for a cell phone and 0.052kW for a laptop.) Although the calculations of water hammer power were
ideal, assuming that the device which harvests the energy
manages to capture 100% of it, even if the device was only
50% ecient, there would still be more than enough power to charge any of the electronic devices listed in Table 2. I
searched the literature to see if someone else had identified
water hammers as potential sources of harvestable ambient
energy but could not find any. As mentioned before, most
are concerned with eliminating or avoiding water hammers,
not taking advantage of them.
munity Technology Centre), one 80cm bungee cord with

hooks on either end (Canadian Tire), and a bicycle tire pump
(Supercycle 1-way mini, Canadian Tire). To be able to connect
the bicycle tire pump to a tap, a garden hose adapter and
dishwasher connector hose to join the tire pump and garden
hose adapter are needed (these items from Home Depot).
The harvester also needs a terminal strip, screws, zap straps,
strapping, hose clamps, electrical wiring, solder and a soldering iron, durable thread and a weight. One 110m spool
of copper wire (RP Electronics), two magnets (The Home
Depot), one diode bridge (RP Electronics), two 8cm long
coated electrical wires with alligator clips (The Home Depot),
and a rechargeable 9V battery (The Source) are required to
build the harvester. Other items include a multimeter (Equus
brand), hot glue and a hot glue gun (The Home Depot) and
a large nail. A computer with the SketchUp program and access to a 3D printer (Tinkerine) to print out a motor casing are
also required to assemble the improved energy harvester.
Methods
Table #2: Power Required to Recharge Small Electronic Devices
Since harvesting energy from a water hammer has not been

considered before, there are no devices designed or built to
do that. This is the goal of my Original Project: to design and
build a functioning device that can eciently harvest the energy created by the pressure dierential of a water hammer.
Materials
To build the improved energy harvester, a piece of plywood is
needed to act as a base for the harvester, a servomotor scavenged from an old computer DVD drawer (Free Geek ComESTEAMED Scholars
For my Science Fair project, I built a prototype of the water

hammer energy harvester as shown in Figure #6. In the prototype, a garden hose connector and dishwasher connector
hose are connected using hose clamps to a bicycle tire pump.
This piece is secured to a piece of plywood with strapping
and screws. A bungee cord is fitted around the head of the
bicycle pump. Two electrical wires are soldered to the scavenged servomotor as seen in Figure #6 and the servomotor
is then secured to the piece of plywood opposite to the bicycle pump. A durable thread is wrapped around the head
of the bicycle pump and then wrapped once around the servomotor drive shaft and allowed to drop over the edge of
the plywood towards the ground with a weight tied onto the
end. The electrical wires connected to the servomotor are
screwed into the terminal strip.
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Figure #6: The Prototype Water Hammer Energy Harvester
In this prototype, the garden hose connector is screwed onto

the garden tap. When another tap in the houses plumbing
system is opened, the bicycle pump head retracts slightly due
to a decrease in static pressure within the system. When the
open tap in the house is suddenly closed, the bicycle pump
quickly extends far past the original position. This movement
is due to the water hammer pressure surge. Then, after the
water hammer surge dies out, the bungee cord guides the
head back to its original position. During the moments when
the bicycle pump head quickly extends because of the pressure surge, the string wrapped around the head winds the
servomotor drive shaft forwards as the weight on the end of
the string falls further towards the ground. The servomotor
converts the kinetic energy of the strings motion to electrical
energy which can be measured by touching the multimeter
leads to the terminal strip screws attached to the two electrical wires from the servomotor.
The prototype worked. The multimeter showed a current
was generated whenever the water hammer moved the bicycle pump; however it generated positive current in one
direction, but negative current in the other. For this project, I
wanted to improve on the prototype. Because the servomotor was generating opposing currents, the two currents were
cancelling each other out. Replacing the terminal strip with
a diode bridge will make sure that the electrical energy will
flow only one way (to the rechargeable battery and not out of
it) regardless of whether the motor is spinning one way or the
other. Also, replacing the servomotor with a more ecient
motor will allow me to collect an increased amount of energy.
Figures #7 and #8 show schematics of the improved water
hammer energy harvester.
Figure #8: Top View of the Improved Water Hammer Energy

Harvester Design
Figure #9: The Motor Casing Design
1.
To make the improved water hammer energy harvester, construct the garden hose/dishwasher connector/bicycle pump/bungee cord device as described
for the prototype and secure it to a piece of plywood.
2. Design a motor casing as shown in Figure #9 using

SketchUp and print it out using a 3D printer.
3. Wrap copper wire about 300 times around one side
of the casing and then pull the end over to the other side of the casing and wrap another 300 times as
shown in Figures #7 and 8. Leave lengths of the two
copper wire ends exposed.
4. Take the two magnets and sandwich a small piece of
cardboard the thickness of the nail between them,
leaving a space for the nail to pass through. Solder
the magnets together.
5. Put the nail through the separate panel of the 3D
printed motor casing and slide the soldered magnets onto the nail.
6. Fit the nail assembly into the motor casing, extending the nail through the hole on the other side of the
motor casing. Hot glue the two motor casing pieces
together.
7.
Figure #7: Side View of the Improved Water Hammer Energy

Harvester Design
54
Attach the ends of the copper wire to the input

prongs of the diode bridge.
8. Solder electrical wiring (with alligator clips on the

other ends) to the output prongs of the diode bridge
ESTEAMED Scholars
and attach the alligator clip ends to a rechargeable

9V battery.
9. Wrap durable thread around the bicycle pump head
and around the nail, then to a weight which hangs o
the end of the piece of plywood.
10. If the nail does not turn easily as the bicycle pump
head extends and then retracts, use the 3D printer to
print out a few gears that can be fixed to the nail and
used to help rotate the magnets within the motor.
Discussion
The prototype water hammer energy harvester from my
Science Fair worked, showed that the energy from the water surge could be converted to kinetic energy through the
movement of the bicycle pump piston (working much like a
water hammer arrestor) and through a motor into electrical
energy that caused the multimeter needle to move. But, it
needed improvement in order to be more ecient in capturing the full energy of the water hammer.
The servomotor needed to be replaced with a better motor. The first plan I had was to glue a magnet on the head of
the bicycle pump and find a pipe that the pump head could
move in and out of easily. The idea was to wrap copper wire
around the outside of the pipe and, as the water hammer
pressure surge extended the pump head with the magnet
into the copper wrapped pipe, electricity could be generated. However, I was told that this would be an inecient
way to capture the water hammer energy because the water
hammer is episodic, not continuous (RP Electronics, personal
communication, Apr. 2015).
Using a piezoelectric transducer was suggested as an alternative to the servomotor (J. Brett, personal communication,
Mar. 2015) so the second plan was, when the water hammer
pressure surge happened, the bicycle pump head would extend and contact a piezoelectric transducer, generating electrical energy. However, I was told that this probably would
not work because the pressure of the water hammer surges is
not constant, but rather varies depending on which taps are
opened or closed (RP Electronics, personal communication,
Apr. 2015).
The third plan is the model described in this report. The servomotor was replaced with a bigger motor made up of stronger magnets and two copper wire coils wrapped 300 times
each. At the same time, the terminal strip was replaced with
a diode bridge. Unlike the terminal strip configuration, the
diode bridge allows energy to be captured on both the extension of the bicycle pump head due to the water hammer
pressure surge and on the retraction of the head as the surge
fades and static pressure is restored.
There are still improvements to be made to this model. The
bungee cord used to help retract the bicycle pump head
adds unwanted resistance when the water pressure surge extends the head, decreasing the energy that could otherwise
be harvested. This cord needs to be eliminated. Another improvement would be to make the device much smaller.
ESTEAMED Scholars
In the future, my goal is to design a combination water hammer arrestor/energy harvester device since both operate on
a similar principle; the water pressure surge moves a piston
which, in the case of the harvester, would drive a motor and,
in the case of the arrestor, would be partially absorbed by a
cushion of air. With the water hammer arrestor/energy harvester device installed within the plumbing system, it would
be small and the energy harvester part of the device could
take advantage of the full energy of an unarrested water hammer to drive a motor before the arrestor part of the device
could partially absorb the surge. I can see this device being
useful in many applications such as, in hospitals, powering
hands free faucets which are currently run on batteries or
plugged into an electrical socket.
Conclusion
An improved water hammer energy harvester was designed
and built, based on a prototype model. Improvements on
the original model included replacing the servomotor with a
bigger and stronger hand built motor and replacing the terminal strip with a diode bridge to capture the water hammer
pressure surge and the return to static pressure. There is still
room for improvement on the newer model such as eliminating the bungee cord and making the device smaller and this
will be done in the future. Further work will be carried out to
design and eventually build a small combination water hammer energy harvester/arrestor device that can be installed in
a plumbing system and used in applications which require
low levels of power.
References
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Absolute Draining and Plumbing. 2012, Sept. 13. How to
Stop Water Hammer Noise. AbsoluteDP.com [blog post.]
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Apsley, D.D., 2013. Unsteady Flow in Pipes. Hydraulics lecture, University of Manchester, UK, T5:1-14. Retrieved from
http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/sta/david.d.apsley/lectures/hydraulics2/t5.pdf
Bastien, S.P., Sepe, R.B., Grilli, A.R., Grilli, S.T., and Spaulding, M.L., 2009, Sept. Ocean Wave Energy Harvesting Buoy
for Sensors. Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition
(ECCE), 3718-3725. Retrieved from http://personal.egr.uri.
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Carvalho, C. and Paulino, N., 2014. On the Feasibility of
55
Indoor Light Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Networks. Procedia Technology, 17, 343-350. Retrieved from
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Cruz, E., and Cesario, R., 2009, Aug. 24. Accident at Russias
Biggest Hydroelectric (Plant) Sayano-SushenskayaAugust
17, 2009. [Powerpoint Presentation.] Retrieved from http://
www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/b/bf/Russia-hydro-accident.pdf
Delichatsios, A., 2012, July 20. Weather Harvester. Turning
Rain into Electricity. Wattnow.org [blog post]. Retrieved
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Energy Harvesting Network, 2011. Energy Harvesting from
Human Power: a Roadmap to New Research Challenges.
First Energy Harvesting Research Theme Workshop, Imperial College, London, Nov. 2010, 1-19. Retrieved from http://
eh-network.org/files/human_power.pdf
Evans, J., 2011, Dec. 17. The Causes of Water Hammer (Part
One). Pumps and Systems.com [blog post]. Retrieved from
http://www.pumpsandsystems.com/topics/pumps/
pumps/causes-water-hammer-part-one
Graetzel, M., 2005. Solar Energy Conversion by Dye-Sensitive Photovoltaic Cell. Inorganic Chemistry, 44 (20), 68416851. Retrieved from http://www.josai.ac.jp/~mitsuke/
Graetzel%20InorgChem%202005.pdf
Homan, D., Willmann, A., Gopfert, R., Becker, P. Folkmer, B., and Manoli, Y., 2013. Energy Harvesting from Fluid Flow in Water Pipelines for Smart Metering Applications.
Journal of Physics, 476, 1-5. Retrieved from http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/476/1/012104/pdf/17426596_476_1_012104.pdf
Liu, L., 2014. Feasibility of Large-Scale Power Plants Based
on Thermoelectric Eects. New Journal of Physics, 16,
2-12. Retrieved from http://iopscience.iop.org/13672630/16/12/123019/pdf/1367-2630_16_12_123019.pdf
Hsu, C-T., Huang, G-Y., Chu, H-S., Yu, B, and Yao, D-J., 2011,
Apr. Experiments and Simulations on Low-Temperature
Waste Heat Harvesting System by Thermoelectric Power
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from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/
S0306261910004009
Ludecke, H-J., and Kothe, B. Water Hammer. KSB KnowHow Vol. 1, 1-30. Retrieved from http://www.ksb.com/linkableblob/ksb-pk/80892-193671/data/Druckstoss_Knowhow_Band_1_en-data.pdf
Martin, S., and Shrivastava, K.K., 2013. Feasibility of Rainwater Harvesting in High Rise Building for Power Generation.
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volume-4/issue-4/IJETT-V4I4P204.pdf
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56
and Green, T.C., 2008, September. Energy Harvesting from

Human and Machine Motion for Wireless Electronic Devices.
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2007, Jan. Recharging Batteries using Energy Harvested from
Thermal Gradients. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems
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com[blog post.] Retrieved from http://www.builderswebsource.com/techbriefs/waterhammer.htm

Wang, Z.L. and Wu, W., 2012. Nanotechnology-Enabled
Energy Harvesting for Self Powered Micro-/Nanosystems.
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ESTEAMED Scholars
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incompressible&f=false
57
Creating an Interactive First Aid Tutorial

Alice Man, grade 11, Richmond Secondary
In medical crises such as heart attacks, strokes, or amputations, the time it takes for a patient to reach the hospital can be
a matter of life or death. The digital first aid tutorial ensures that a patient is treated as quickly as possible by guiding the
patient or the bystander through an interactive first aid tutorial. This tutorial gives explicit instructions on how to do first aid
step by step and gives advice about treatment and further medical care along the way. Thus this program allows for any person regardless of their prior first aid knowledge, to perform accurate treatments. In this project, VisiRule was used to convert
a digital flowchart into a basic workable program which was then converted into a website through Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). The website format allows for easier user access and the integration of animations in the tutorial.
Introduction
In medical crises such as heart attacks, strokes, or amputations, the time it takes for a patient to reach the hospital can
be a matter of life or death. This initial critical call for medical
attention is often delayed for two key reasons, firstly because
the patient him/herself does not understand the severity of
the situation, and secondly because the people around the
patient do not know what to do or who to call for. The first
case occurs most commonly when one has a myocardial infarction or a stroke. When the patient does not understand
the severity of his/her chest pain and does not seek further
medical care within an hour, the patient loses out on the benefits (such as lower mortality rates) from recent advances in
treatment (Dracup et al. 1995). On the other hand, the second case occurs most commonly when one gets injured in an
area without trained first aiders and is confused on what to
do to mitigate the pain or to improve the situation. To resolve
these issues of denial and confusion, the digital first aid tutorial was created to guide patients and bystanders through
the appropriate first aid actions by collecting data and giving
advice about treatment and further medical care. This novel
approach to first aid tutorials is more straightforward and direct than previous tutorials, and allows for the bystander or
patient to perform the needed actions faster.
The program initially used was VisiRule: a program which

can convert a flowchart into a program (See Figure 1). The
data from this basic program was then converted into a web
format, through the use of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud
(Amazon EC2) to give users easier access (See Figure 2). The
Saint John Ambulance First Aid Reference Guide was used as
a source of consultation for treatments.
Figure 2: This is a page from the website currently being developed. The program gives advice and allows the user to work at his/
her own pace.
Figure 1: The flowchart tool,

VisiRule creates a program
by compiling the information
given by the flowchart drawn
by the user. A chart similar
to the following was created
to map out the details of the
tutorial.
58
ESTEAMED Scholars
Discussion
References
Through the process of drawing out the logic chart by hand

and by using the VisiRule tool, it was recognized that flowcharts are extremely helpful in creating a program of this sort.
Although VisiRule was the initial tool which was planned to
be used for the program, it was found later that the program
created by VisiRule could not be converted into a website,
or be further embellished in any way easily. For example,
animations and images could not be added into the tutorial. Thus Amazon EC2, a web server, was used instead to develop the program. A workable online site is currently being
developed into a program where the data collected in a run
can be used to automatically fill out a patient information
form. The finished site can then be further developed to aid
schools and organizations both with the execution of first aid
and the storage of patient data.
Dracup K., Moser D.K., Eisenberg M., et al. Causes of delay

in seeking treatment for heart attack symptoms. Soc Sci Med.
1995;40(3):379392.
ESTEAMED Scholars
First Aid: Reference Guide. 1st ed. Ottawa, ON: St. John Ambulance, 2011. Print.
LPA VisiRule 1.5. LPA VisiRule 1.5. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
http://www.lpa.co.uk/vsr.htm.
59
Motorizing a Dobsonian Reflector Telescope Mount

Hallie Jones, grade 11, Stratford Hall
This project started with a desire to enable a homemade telescope to track stars using sky mapping software. During the
process of the project the goal was changed slightly, due to time constraints, to allow this telescope to be moved using
motors controlled by a keypad. In terms of the progress made so far, there were a few dierent fields encompassed in it. The
use of coding and embedded systems was necessary in order to enable the system of electronics to function as desired. 3D
modelling and the use of CAD technologies such as Autodesk Inventor were necessary in order to design the pulleys used
in the system. Mechanical design was also a large part of this project. In order to problem solve during the construction process, mechanical engineering was used. Overall this was a very complex and intricate project that will result in a motorized
telescope.
Introduction
Last year I built a telescope as a year long school project.
When it was complete and I started using it to observe stars
I noticed that it was very dicult to move accurately with my
hands. When looking through a telescope one can notice
the movement of the stars across the sky, or rather the earths
rotation, due to the magnification oered by the telescope.
This means that whilst examining a star it has a tendency to
move out of view. This isnt a huge problem because one can
simply move the telescope and follow it. However a larger
problem occurs with higher magnification because the stars
appear to move faster. It becomes increasingly dicult to
follow these movements with manual motions. This is where
the idea to add in a motorized system to the telescope came
from. Although the original goal was to also allow for tracking
capabilities (so the telescope could follow the stars motion)
time constraints have led the goal becoming that of adding
motors controlled by a keypad instead.
corresponded with a motor. This code included segments

telling the LCD to print words corresponding to the actions of
the motors as seen here:
Tables and Figures

This figure shows a simple, to scale diagram of the telescope
stand. This depicts only the system that will control the altitude (y) axis of the telescopes motion. The line labelled XL
Timing Belt will be the toothed belt that is connected to the
motor (labelled M1). The large semicircle that sits atop the
stand is free moving and can rotate 90, allowing for vertical
adjustments.
Progress/Materials and Methods

This project is not yet complete; the future steps that will be
taken are included in the Discussion portion of this paper.
The materials used in this project (thus far) can be divided
into two categories. The first of these will be electrical components. This list consists of an Arduino Uno microcontroller, two 1.2 amp stepper motors, an Adafruit motor shield,
an LCD screen and keypad shield, as well as wiring components. All of these components were purchased at Lees Electronic. The second category is mechanical components. This
list consists of five XL timing belts ranging in lengths (4448) purchased on Servo City, pinion gears to go with these
(15 teeth) which were also purchased on Servo City, stepper
motor couplers (to attach the pinions to the motors), a 9-inch
Lazy Susan bearing (purchased at Lee Valley), a 15.2-inch (in
diameter) pulley with teeth) as well as a tensioner pulley.
The methods used in this project are as follows.
After purchasing the Arduino and two shields (the LCD
screen/keypad shield and the Adafruit motor shield), stacking pins were soldered onto the motor shield to allow for
these three components to be connected.
Next, a code was written in order to communicate with the
Arduino. This code told the motors attached to the controller
to turn in a specific direction based on which button was being pressed. Each set of buttons on the LCD/Keypad shield
60
This image shows a 3D CAD drawing of the system that will

support and control the azimuth (x) axis of the telescopes
motion. The two large discs that are on the top and bottom
of this assembly are the two pieces of wood that are attached
to the stand. The thin orange strip that can be seen directly
under the top wooden disc is the top of the Lazy Susan bearing (the component that will allow for smooth rotation). The
blue and yellow discs that can be seen are two flanges that
will keep a timing belt aligned properly on the toothed pulESTEAMED Scholars
ley. This pulley is the grey/silver disc in the very middle of this
assembly. The small pinion on the right side will also be in
contact with the timing belt. The motor that will spin this pinion will come down through a hole drilled through the top
wooden disk.
An alternate design, which relies on the same basic principle

is shown here. This CAD drawing shows a design in which the
Lazy Susan bearing (C) has a diameter of 17 3/8 inches. This
design would allow for more stability, however it would also
complicate the assembly process as it would have the timing
belt, toothed pulley (A) and pinion (B) inside of the bearing
ring.
These are the most significant additions to the project that

have thus far been planned for. Others may occur, however
they have not yet been foreseen.
Conclusions drawn regarding this project
This project has involved a variety of dierent fields, as
mentioned above these include coding, mechanics and 3D
design. Due to the array of necessary skills involved in the
successful completion of this project I have learned how to
use professional design software (Autodesk Inventor), I have
learned how to program an Arduino so that it can both control a motor and print out what its doing. I have also become
quite familiar with some properties of robotics, specifically
the workings of belts with pulleys and pinions. The complicated nature of this project has allowed me to learn about
many dierent things and put this newfound knowledge into
action by making a motorized telescope.
References
1.
ATM Links. Fraser Valley Astronomers Society. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2015. <http://www.fvas.net/atmresources.html>.
2. The DIY Arduino Telescope GOTO control project.

The Curdridge Observatory.N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr.
2015. <http://astro.neutral.org/arduino/arduino-telescope-control.shtml>.
3. A Dobsonian Mount. Stellafane. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb.
2015. <http://stellafane.org/tm/dob/index.html>.
Discussion
Future Plans
More of this project is yet to be completed than has been so
far. Due to lack of knowledge in the necessary areas many of
the components of this project have not been finished yet,
included in the tasks that will be carried out over the next
few weeks are water cutting a toothed pulley, mounting the
Lazy Susan on the telescope stand, reprogramming the Arduino code to account for the shift from DC motors to Stepper motors, and the final assembly of these parts. In order to
complete these tasks a complete and accurate model of the
toothed pulley will need to be completed, as of now a few
adjustments still need to be made. Autodesk Inventor will
be used to fix the necessary aspects of the design. Mounting
the Lazy Susan will require the use of accurate measurement
tools in order to properly centre the bearing. The exact centring of this bearing is crucial because if it is o centre even
slightly the accuracy of the motorized stand will be severely
diminished. In terms of the type of motors used DC motors
were in place as testers because they were small and cost
eective, however for the actual movement of a large telescope, stepper motors will be more eective. The alterations
of the Arduino code will include simple changes to the commands used so that the controller knows that it is controlling
a stepper rather than a DC motor.
ESTEAMED Scholars
4. LCD Keypad Shield. dfrobot. N.p., 22 July 2010. Web.

4 Apr. 2015. <http://www.dfrobot.com/image/data/
DFR0009/LCDKeypad%20Shield%20V1.0% 20SCH.
pdf>.
5. LiquidCrystal Library. Arduino. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr.
2015. <http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/LiquidCrystal>.
61
Detection of Nerve Activity in the Biceps Brachii to Control Motor Activity

Parker Wieck, grade 12, Rockridge Secondary
this project endeavours to scope out the potential for Electromyogram (EMG) technology in helping individuals regain motor control over their environment. The prototype will be a proof of concept design connected to the biceps brachii muscle group. EMG sensors embedded in a compression arm sleeve will detect the muscular activation of the Biceps Brachii,
this detection will be processed and then acted upon resulting in a lever raising and falling in time with the rising and falling
of the arm. This would replicate the motion of a prosthesis attached at the elbow joint. If the proof of concept is successful
the more dicult task of fine motor activity could be tackled.
Introduction
We use our hands for the majority of our interaction with the
outside world. For those whose hands have been destroyed
as the result of unfortunate circumstance; this interactive capacity is destroyed. The hand is destroyed. Various methods
have been designed to help individuals regain their interactive power, this models are usually quite expensive and beyond the budget of many. Of the commercial models that are
aordable almost all are body-powered and fail to replicate
the fine manipulation of the hand (Active Prostheses). This
project desires to use the subjects nerves from the peripheral nervous system to allow the subject to regain ability. This
project is a proof of concept, as in this project will prove
whether or not this is a viable option. As a result a less dicult
target will be chosen than the hand. This project will attempt
to use Electromyography (EMG) technology to replicate the
lifting movement of the arm. As the arm is raised, motor neurons activate in the Biceps Brachii (the muscle group used to
raise the forearm) rapidly depolarizing; this change in electric potential results in a detectable electric field (Barnett and
Larkman 192, 2007). This muscle group was chosen for its
large activation potential dierence (AS 79, 2006). These
electric fields can be detected using EMG. Using an Integrated circuit, or IC (arduino Uno,) the information the EMG
cables (Advancer technology) collects will be processed into
an angular position. This position will be communicated to a
stepper motor which will lift the arm into the correct position.

Beginning with an Arduino Uno (Arduino), EMG wire (Advancer Technologies), insulated copper wiring (Lees Electronics), and a breadboard (Lees Electronics). The Arduino
will act as an information processing center and relay; the
EMG wire will detect the muscle activation. Note that all
wires uses after cutting were stripped roughly half a centimeter before the end on both sides. The base of the EMG
wire (male end) was sheared o using wire cutters, resulting
in three dierent wires. Connecting the three wires into the
breadboard in series then using the insulated copper wire to
62
connect the set of three sheared wires into the A2 input on

the Arduino Uno. This is the relay of the information sensed
by the EMG cables. Next, cutting four 25 cm wires, dividing
them into two groups, and then in series (that is not connected to any other wire) connected the two groups to the breadboard. Cut out two more 7-10 cm wires connecting one of
the 7-10 cm wires to one of the series pair and the other end
into ground in the Arduino Uno; the other 7-10 cm wire was
connected between the other series pair and the 5V lead in.
This is how far the project has progressed in the construction
of the device. Everything written hence is yet to be done. A
compression sleeve armband and silver nylon fabric will be
employed to create a connection location on the arm. Following this 3D models of a lever (to attach to the axle of the
stepper motor) and casing (covering the stepper motor) will
be created for a stepper motor. A step motor driver will be
installed and the Arduino will be coded such that based on
the input from the Biceps Brachii the position of the 3d printed lever arm (controlled by the step motor) will update its
position to match the contraction of the arm. To give an example: If a subject contracts their arm to 45O the EMG cables
will read the contraction, the information will be processed
by the Arduino, and the stepper motor will raise the lever to
45O.
Discussion
Researching various methods of gaining control via nerves
yields essentially two methods, EMG or electroencephalography (EEG). My initial goal was to use EEGs, however,
I quickly found that the very cheapest of these devices are
a minimum of 150$ and that many other parts (such as electrodes) were not included in this price. As a result I moved
to using EMGs. This means that this medical technology is
restricted to those with the wealth to acquire them, full prosthetic devices with advanced functionality are far beyond
the price range of 98% of the population. While this project
would not be matching the functionality of these prostheses
it would oer a potentially cheaper method of gaining advanced prosthetics. In working with EMG it has become clear
that the lower price comes with a price of its own. EMGs
require muscle activation in order to function, which means
doubling up on a muscle group that already exists. While this
would undoubtedly improve life for individuals its quality is
not that of an EEG counterpart which functions independent
of muscle activity. This could be improved by using combinations of muscles, requiring learning on the users part. An
example would be cocking the head to the right while lifting
the arm to close a robotic hand.
ESTEAMED Scholars
References
Barnett, Mark W., and Philip M. Larkman. The Action Potential. Practical Neurology 7.3 (2007):192-97. Print.
AS, Wee. Correlation between the biceps brachii muscle
bulk and the size of its evoked compound muscle action potential. Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol 46.2 (2006): 7982. PubMed. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.
nih.gov/pubmed/16795997>.
Active Prostheses. touch bionics. Touch Bionics, 2015.
Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://www.touchbionics.com/patients-families/prosthetic-options/active-prostheses>
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JOURNAL

Volume 1, May 2015

a journal for student work

Editor: Dr. Catherine Anderson

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- Volume 1 - May 2015

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