Aiden Shaposka, Sigonella High School, Sicily (2:20)
Mentor: Marsha McCauley, Sigonella High School
Solving Go Kart Problems

The SIP I created was about Go Karts and the problems they have. This project was about inquiring if a better engine along with better modifications would be better for a Go Kart and if it would affect it positively or negatively.  This project shows that the inquiry was true and that it is more reliable to put a better engine in a Go Kart. The procedure along with the analysis show that the overall project is factual and can be used in modern day society, having a positive impact on the world and not a negative one. Although there may be problems with the drivers, that is a drivers issue not a company issue. My hypothesis states, “If we put a V6 into a Go Kart replacing the V4 it will be more reliable, faster, and make the ‘clients’ happier with driving them.” The conclusion is that the hypothesis can be proven correct and not wrong.

Caden Swanigan, Stuttgart High School, Germany (19:20)
Mentor: Daniel Coapstick, Stuttgart High School
A Tale of Two Eurhinosauri: Resolving Taxonomic Uncertainty of a Prehistoric Genus

The specimen SMNS-81842 has been previously suggested as a potential distinct species of Eurhinosaurus based on differences in morphology and measurements from other Eurhinosaurus specimens. However, after a thorough analysis of the available evidence, we argue that SMNS-81842 is not a distinct species, but rather a distinct morphology or subspecies of Eurhinosaurus longirostris. The researcher’s analysis was based on a comprehensive review of the available data, including morphological measurements, ecological considerations, and comparisons with related species. Their findings suggest that there is not enough evidence to support the designation of SMNS-81842 as a distinct species. Instead, the differences observed in this specimen are likely due to natural variation within the species, rather than the result of evolutionary divergence. Furthermore, the researcher’s analysis of the ecological niches of swordfish (Xiphias gladius) and Eurhinodelphis, similar but  unrelated species, does not suggest that Eurhinosaurus would have faced the need to differentiate into two distinct species. Therefore, they conclude that the designation of SMNS-81842 as a distinct species is not supported by the available evidence and that it should be considered a distinct morphology or potential subspecies of Eurhinosaurus Longirostris. Their findings have important implications for the study of marine reptiles and their evolution, as they suggest that natural variation can be mistaken for evolutionary divergence. Their study highlights the importance of considering ecological and environmental factors when interpreting morphological differences between species, as these factors can help explain the origin and significance of morphological variation.

Sophia Pinero, Ramstein High School, Germany (34:45)
Mentor: Michelle Harrington, Ramstein High School
Analyzing Academic Impact: The Relationship Between Student Screen Time and Grades, Uncovering the Influence of App Usage on Academic Performance

As we move further into the 21st century , students' brains are consistently being introduced to many different stimuli in our modern world, specifically electronics. Despite the advantages of devices, research has been able to prove the negative aspects of people that spend excessive amounts of time on their phones, from showing negative behavior, cognitive problems, as well as mental health. Due to the risk in the mental health of students, many organizations continue to recommend for parents to reduce the amount of screen time students are exposed to everyday. Although many people try to reduce the amount of screentime that they are exposing themselves to, there has been less success than what is thought. Despite the controversy of screen time there is a lack of experimentation interventions to help people reduce the amount of screentime they have. One solution that has been used in phones recently is an application that lets the person know how many hours he/she is on the phone. However there is a concern on following guidelines to help students and guide parents with no scientific data to back up these guidelines. Due to the amount of negative stigma around screen time, this researcher conducted a quantitative study to see if GPA is correlated to screen time.

​Alexandra Quintanilla, Sigonella High School, Sicily (53:40)
Mentor: Marsha McCauley, Sigonella High School
AI vs Code: Rubik's Cube

The purpose of this research paper is to evaluate how algorithms affect how long it takes to solve a rubik’s cube. My hypothesis was that if there are less algorithms while solving the cube, then the time it takes to solve should be reduced. My process involved using different methods to solve the rubik’s cube (each having different amounts of algorithms), and recording the differences in time. To summarize my data, the methods with the least algorithms had proven to have the fastest times. For my statistical analysis, I used the T-Test Formula to interpret two variables of my data. With this, I had a result of 6.3061 which proved that there was a significant difference in the methods. In this research paper, I learned a large amount about the definition and characteristics of algorithms. Using this information, it is possible to solve real world problems more efficiently by limiting the amount of algorithms used.

Anja Beck, Stuttgart High School, Germany (1:22:01)
Mentor: Daniel Coapstick, Stuttgart High School
Formulation and Testing of Mechanical Properties and Biodegradability of Starch Based Bioplastics with Cellulosic Reinforcement

With an ever-rising plastic waste problem and increasing greenhouse gas emissions, a solution is needed to reduce the environmental impact of plastic while still benefiting from its functionality. Bioplastics, or plastics made from natural materials, have arisen to address this problem, and starch based bioplastics are receiving special attention due to their easy manufacturability and accessibility. However, pure starch-based bioplastics are weak and require reinforcements in order to improve their mechanical properties so they can be useful for applications. Cellulose and its derivatives have been highlighted as a positive reinforcer for starch based bioplastics, improvement in strength being one of the most highlighted benefits.  This study aims to test which of the two forms of cellulose I, alpha or beta, provide the greatest benefit to starch-based plastics by improving its mechanical properties. This study specifically tests tensile strength and water solubility to compare three varieties of bioplastic based on these characteristics.

Claudia Cordero, Rota High School, Spain (1:39:28)
Mentor: Nancy Rogers, Rota High School
​Increasing Machine Learning Training Data To Reduce Selection Bias in AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing expeditiously in today’s world and being used for many different real-world applications like healthcare, law enforcement and CCTV, recruiting for companies, etc. This has led to an increase in selection bias, which results in AI developers over representing a specific group of people (usually white and western) and underrepresenting other minorities, so that many facial recognition systems and search engines don’t recognize them or recognize them too much. The purpose of this research is to replicate selection bias and a solution for it by using emotional/type three AI to recognize whether the Teachable Machine software (created by Google) the researcher trained can accurately predict emotions and accurately predict emotions for different skin complexions. The researcher used fair skin toned faces and very small data sets at first and then continued increasing the data sets used to train the model and made them more representative of other skin tones. The researcher’s hypothesis was supported by the results at the end since the correlation between skin tone, data set amounts, and result accuracy decreased, meaning that selection bias decreased as well.

Kenan Hager, Sigonella High School, Sicily (1:57:37)
Mentor: Marsha McCauley, Sigonella High School
Basalt

This project was a test to see if a uniquely created coding language could outperform existing languages in specific tasks. The hypothesis was ‘If one uses Basalt coding language when creating similar (meaning nearly equivalent) text based games then it will require less lines of code than TI-BASIC’. After creating this unique language, it was then compared to TI-BASIC, the language that it was trying to outperform, and Python, the control; in efficiency, decided in lines in program, for a specific program that required complex relations between variables, and lists. Python and Basalt both greatly outperform TI-BASIC, with Basalt doing slightly better in this program. In conclusion, if one creates a coding language that is specialized to perform specific tasks it will excel at those tasks above low level coding languages and possibly better than all around higher level languages in regards to human efficiencies. Mistakes that possibly occurred in this project that could have influenced the data were the fact that it was a human counting the lines in each program and one could have possibly miscounted, and the possibility that the programs were not as efficient as possible. Some ways this project could be continued are creating more programs to compare the languages, or building on top of Basalt to allow new features, or even creating an AI within this language. This knowledge can benefit society because if this language is optimized, then it could be used to improve code that will be created in the future.

​Orion Schultes, Stuttgart High School, Germany (2:27:20)
Mentor: Daniel Coapstick, Stuttgart High School
How Does Knowledge Influence Opinion?​

We make thousands of decisions every day, whether they are small or large. All decisions are based on our opinions, and our opinions are formed from our knowledge and experiences. However do we understand how knowledge influences our opinions and decisions? That question is what this study aims to answer. The method used to answer this question is a survey type in which participants are asked to rate their opinion on a certain biased topic. They are then given a small paragraph prompt intervention, meant to sway their opinion one way or the other. Following this prompt intervention, they are once again asked to rate their opinion on the topic. Finally, the difference between their original opinion and their new, changed opinion are measured and analyzed. This study found that depending on the topic, the prompts can have a significant impact on the participants opinion.

​Benjamin Gallei, AFNORTH High School, The Netherlands (2:44:00)
Mentor: Dr. Alex Crawford, Theracule
Microbiomic Analysis of Canines: Insights into Diet and Possibilities for Disease Diagnosis

A study was conducted analyzing the microbiome of wolf/dog fecal samples through next-generation 16S/ITS sequencing. Tested groups were 5 wolves and 3 dogs living in the same environment. Wolves in the study were fed a diet of raw meat, whereas dogs are fed raw meat supplemented with kibble. As direct samples from an animal’s gastrointestinal tract (GIT) are very difficult to obtain, the fecal microbiota is used as a proxy, presenting microorganisms from all stages of the GIT, which is one of the most diverse regions of mammalian bodies in regards to microbiota. Additionally, the canine digestive system is lacking in a prominent mucosal layer such as the human GIT, making fecal microbiome an even more reliable proxy as there is minimal misrepresentation of muciniphilic bacteria in the fecal analysis. The study will pay attention to the five main phyla of bacteria present within the canine gastrointestinal tract; Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. Many of these phyla are specialized in the catabolism of certain macromolecules (e.g. carbohydrates) and therefore hypotheses can be drawn as to the effect of diet on the concentrations of these phyla. The fecal samples gained, when inputted into the sequencing service will yield various forms of data, including but not limited to a table showing the samples and their related subgroups, absolute abundance (the estimated number of bacteria as compared to relative abundance, which is a percentage), composition barplots detailing the various percentages of microbial composition in each sample, taxonomy heatmaps that provide useful data to identify clustering, amplicon sequence variant abundance heatmap, alpha diversity (microbial diversity within a sample), beta diversity (microbial diversity between samples), LEfSe analysis to help identify significantly different taxa, and Taxa2ASV Decomposer, which can deconstruct the sequences within a taxa for further analysis. This information will be used to draw conclusions on the effects of diet and species on the composition of the GIT microbiome.

Nicholas Vail, Sigonella High School, Sicily (3:03:30)
​Mentor: Marsha McCauley, Sigonella High School
The Effect of Out of Envelope CG on Model Aircraft Distance Performance

The study and calculation of CG or center of gravity is crucial in the aerospace fields. It in short ensures that planes stay balanced in the air and are able to maintain straight and level flight. Center of Gravity calculations are the number one cause for general aviation accidents and incidents. Having a better understanding of the effects of imbalanced CG could allow for the improving of safety in general aviation and could better prepare pilots if they are in a position where their plane is imbalanced. It is clear in aviation that the more prepared you are the better the outcome. The testing was done with a launching device that ensured equal launches and angles every time. Distance was then measured and centers of gravity calculated using the standard weight, arm, moment method. The results showed that in all cases centers of gravity displaced more than 11% forward or aft result in poor distance performance and dangerous irregular flight patterns. In conclusion it was determined that balanced CG is crucial to safe flight and also the ability to fly straight and level. Overall distance performance decreased during both forward and aft displacements resulting in worse performance.

Anna Roth, Stuttgart High School, Germany (3:20:23)
Mentor: Daniel Coapstick, Stuttgart High School
​Foliage and its Waste Products Efficiency in the Production of Bioplastics and the financial implications of efficient bioplastics

Eco-friendly alternatives to plastics are constantly being researched due to the detriment of petroleum-based plastics to the environment and reliance on harmful fossil fuels. Abundant resources that have a high starch content, like corn and potatoes, have been prioritized to create biodegradable plastics. However, the cultivation of these crops requires a significant amount of resources, in which this project aims to use foliage and foliage waste as a viable bioplastic, by testing and extracting its starch. Once the starch is extracted from leaves, it can be combined with glycerin, vinegar, and water to make a bioplastic. However, starch extraction was not possible from dead foliage waste due to the absence of photosynthesis. Starch detection in green leaves supported through an iodine test, but was met with an ultimately unsuccessful starch extraction due to its minimal amount. It was concluded that although foliage does contain enough starch to create a bioplastic, it is not efficient due to the large amount of leaves needed to produce enough starch. Other waste products, especially food waste ,was also researched for not just bioplastic efficacy but monetary value saved. Milk, the second most wasted food source, created a bioplastic using a protein-method by extracting casein. Bread and rice both followed a similar process to the foliage in which the starch was extracted and combined with glycerin, water and vinegar. Bread had the highest monetary value saved at $491,700,000 utilizing 18% of its annually wasted product. ​

Viktor Osadsky, Ramstein High School, Germany (3:48:10)
Mentor: Michelle Harrington, Ramstein High School
Prioritization of Pneumothorax Diagnosis in Management: Integrating Machine Learning Based Semantic Segmentation with a Severity-Based Urgency List System

Pneumothorax, characterized by the presence of air in the pleural space, has a reputation of demanding timely intervention. But when this abnormality is classified as a tension pneumothorax, the situation becomes life-threatening and in need of emergency care. To continue with an emergency intervention procedure, a radiologist must first interpret a radiograph of the case, and issue directions for further care. The absence of a standardized approach in prioritization of pneumothorax cases often results in the lack of a specific order for viewing studies, potentially delaying critical diagnoses. To solve this, a machine learning pipeline with the fundamental functionality of creating segmented masks, a severity score of a case, and an UrgencyList function will be developed to enhance the process of a prioritization workflow and decrease negative effects and fatalities due to pneumothoraces. Using a U-Net based model with primary EfficientNetB4 layers as the decoder stage of the model, semantic segmentation was achieved to highlight sections of the pleural cavity classified as pneumothorax. The model reached a pixel-wise accuracy of 0.99, dice coefficient of 0.91, IoU of 0.90, and custom metric image-wise accuracy of 0.89 on a testing dataset with 35% pneumothorax cases. After generating plots of images organized by their calculated severity scores through volume measurement, the pipeline exhibited accurate performance in displaying results classified as life-threatening at the top of the UrgencyList and results with no pneumothorax detected at the bottom.

Theodore Nguyen, Sigonella High School, Sicily (4:07:06)
Mentor: Marsha McCauley, Sigonella High School
Solar Canopies & Tunnels: A Report on Efficiency

Numerous techniques exist for energy harvesting, prompting the question of which method offers optimal cost efficiency. Extensive peer-reviewed research, as presented by Cengiz (2015), has unequivocally identified solar energy as not only the most abundant but also the most environmentally friendly and among the most efficient renewable energy sources available. Proceeding this information, a method of harvesting solar energy has been proposed by covering roadways, offering shading from the scorching sun’s solar rays while also harvesting energy, but the question this paper serves to answer is which method would be the most efficient to construct given two different models, arc-tunnel-shaped model or canopy-roof-shaped model. After much experimentation and data collection, it has been determined that the canopy-roof-shaped models are more efficient as an arrangement of solar panels as opposed to the arc-tunnel-shaped model.

Benjamin Kaufman, Stuttgart High School, Germany (4:25:35)
Mentor: Daniel Coapstick, Stuttgart High School
Endangered Species Ecotourism as Economic Development in the United States

Ecotourism is a popular sector of the tourism industry that has potential to enhance environmental awareness and protection. It is useful for the species living in those environments who contribute to biodiversity and balance in the ecosystem. Its effects on the environment have been multifaceted, drawing criticism while also attracting praise. This study will examine the untapped potential brought by endangered species-centric ecotourism that may improve economic conditions in certain areas. Sites will be analyzed based on key geographical and environmental factors using geographic information systems (GIS) and consideration of factors contributing to the success of ecotourism. This study hopes to show trends in locations that could be applied by commercial enterprises or government agencies to target underserved communities for economic growth in the United States, and potentially apply the method to ecotourism sites abroad.