Morristown High School

The project focuses on optimizing the golf swing through a physics-based analysis of biomechanics and kinematics. We began studying the fundamental foundations of the golf swing, including the double-pendulum model, which simplifies the motion by transferring energy from the arms (first pendulum) to the wrists and club (second pendulum) to achieve maximum power at impact. To establish a baseline, we recorded our initial swings and compared them to professional golfer Rory McIlroy, analyzing differences in joint angles, limb displacement, and timing using software including Factorial Biomechanics and TrajectoWare. As the comparison highlighted areas for improvement, specifically in swing sequencing and efficient transfers of energy, we applied these targeted adjustments to our swing, allowing for a measurable improvement in efficiency and power. Our final analysis provides a comprehensive, physics-based perspective on optimizing swing output and effiiciency, along with new videos of our new and improved swings.

Each year, athletes across the world are injured or killed from 3.8 million sports-related concussions, primarily related to contact helmet sports like football and lacrosse. Despite product development efforts at measuring hit-detection, determining cause of concussion, and predicting recovery, there is a lack of focus on real-time concussion detection for athletes. This study involved the construction of an electronic sensor containing device capable of being placed inside a lacrosse helmet. Proof-of-principle testing demonstrated that the device did not degrade comfort of wear, and was robust enough to withstand limited impacts as would occur during concussion causing hits during games. The electronic sensor stored a feedforward artificial intelligence, neural network model to detect real-time concussions. Uploading and running the neural network on/from the device ensured that the concussion-detecting and measuring functionality of the device was operational without reliance on Bluetooth® or on WiFi. The ML model was based on an online dataset containing actual concussion data correlated with the Head Injury Criterion (HIC) and the Gadd Severity Index (GSI); which in turn, was linearly interpolated with an equal amount of synthetic data. The model returned scores > 0.99 (for a binary decision of concussion/no-concussion) across metrics consisting of accuracy, recall, precision and F1, when tested on hold-out data. Additionally, a mobile app was coded to work in conjunction with the concussion-detection and measurement sensor by recording data that could be viewed by players, coaches, and medical professionals. Constructing the circuit with commercially available and marked-up parts led to a significantly cheaper device than currently available commercial devices; and one that was additionally equipped with real-time concussion detection functionality. The results of the study pose a potential advancement in the development of real-time concussion-detection technology and the ability to protect athletes against brain injury.

Dopamine super sensitivity psychosis (DSP) is marked by rebound or treatment-resistant psychosis, typically linked to prolonged or poorly managed antipsychotic use. While increasingly recognized in adults, DSP in adolescents, especially with catatonia, remains underreported. The impact of fragmented psychiatric care and caregiver-driven treatment changes is rarely addressed. We describe a 13-year-old female with schizophrenia who developed severe functional decline and catatonia after years of inconsistent psychiatric management. Extensive workup, including EEG, brain MRI, and broad metabolic, infectious, autoimmune, and endocrine testing, was negative. Her history revealed frequent physician changes and abrupt medication switches without tapering, often initiated by parental concern over persistent symptoms. At presentation, she was wheelchair-bound, minimally responsive, and showed psychomotor retardation, tremors, and auditory hallucinations. Her course aligned with DSP complicated by catatonia, after incomplete or subtherapeutic trials of risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, aripiprazole, and cariprazine. Treatment with clozapine and high-dose lorazepam was initiated, alongside careful monitoring and structured support for the family. The patient gradually regained independence, resumed psychotherapy, and re-engaged socially, with significant improvement in psychosis. This case illustrates the rare intersection of adolescent DSP and catatonia, highlighting risks of inconsistent treatment and caregiver-driven decisions. It underscores the importance of coordinated psychiatric care, cautious medication adjustments, and comprehensive family education. Supporting caregivers emotionally and educationally is vital to improving adherence and long-term outcomes for youth with severe mental illness.

To prevent and reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV and maternal morbidity and mortality, the World Health Organization currently requires retesting for HIV during pregnancy and postpartum. This was a systematic review and meta-analysis in which PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and clinicaltrials.gov were searched for articles published between January 2005 and February 2024. Retesting uptake was defined as the number of women who tested for HIV during pregnancy/breastfeeding periods following an initial HIV-negative test during these periods. Using random-effects models, we computed the pooled prevalence of HIV retesting uptake, incidence rates (IRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A sensitivity analysis was done by excluding studies that tested women during labor and reported 100% retesting uptake. A total of 37 studies with 1,999,621 women were analyzed. Overall, the pooled prevalence of HIV retesting uptake was 89.1% (95%CI, 81.0-95.2). Retesting uptake was significantly higher during breastfeeding compared to pregnancy (93.3% vs. 89.9%; P < 0.001). A sensitivity analysis showed that overall retesting uptake was 73.9% (95%CI, 60.1-83.8). A total of 1302 (0.2%) women acquired HIV. Twenty-two studies reported an IR; the overall pooled IR was 4.3/100 person-year (PY; 95%CI, 3.4-5.2/100 PY). The HIV incidence rate was significantly higher during pregnancy compared to breastfeeding (5.9/100 vs. 3.4/100 PY; P < 0.001). One to three in 10 women in sub-Saharan Africa do not retest for HIV following a negative test during pregnancy or breastfeeding periods. Emphasizing HIV retesting during these periods is critical to eliminate pediatric HIV given that the overall IR is beyond the WHO threshold (3.0/100 PY) for a substantial risk of HIV transmission.

This study delves into the efficacy of various machine learning and statistical models that have captured the attention of financial analysts. Two of them, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) are variations of Recurrent Neural Networks while the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) is a statistical model. These models will be used to forecast stock market data across different economic sectors. In the dynamic landscape of financial markets, accurate forecasting is crucial. This research paper contributes to quantitative finance by conducting a comprehensive comparative analysis of these models on historical stock market data from three sectors: extraction, manufacturing, and service (which are considered the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of the economy respectively). The models' performances are evaluated using mean squared error (MSE) on six selected stocks representing these sectors. Results reveal the power of recurrent neural networks in capturing intricate patterns. Moreover, the results will explore whether or not the efficacy of each model is impacted by the sector of the economy that it is forecasting data for.

As the world becomes increasingly digitized, the demand for personalized websites is also gradually growing [1]. However, creating a personal website is not an easy task. Generally speaking, people can invest time and effort to learn programming languages for website development, or they can spend money to purchase services fromprofessional web development companies. Both of these methods require significant investment in terms of time or money. To democratize the creation of personal websites, we have developed a program that automatically generates personalized web pages. Users simply need to input instructions in natural language, and the program will generate a personalized website based on the information provided. Websites produced in this manner usually have high quality while simultaneously saving substantial amounts of time and money [2].

We construct a deformation of any (0 + 1)-dimensional theory of N bosons with SO(N ) symmetry which is driven by a function of conserved quantities that resembles the root-T T operator of 2d quantum field theories. In the special case of N = 2 bosons and a harmonic oscillator potential, the solution to the flow equation is the ModMax oscillator of 2209.06296. We argue that the deforming operator is related, in a particular special regime, to the dimensional reduction of the 2d root-T T operator on a spatial circle. It follows that the ModMax oscillator is a dimensional reduction of the 4d ModMax theory to quantum mechanics, justifying the name. We then show how to construct a manifestly supersymmetric extension of this root-T T -like operator for any (0 + 1)-dimensional theory with SO(N ) symmetry and N = 2 supersymmetry by defining a flow equation directly in superspace.

Abstract Ongoing declines in insect populations have led to substantial concern and calls for conservation action. However, even for relatively well studied groups, like butterflies, information relevant to species‐specific status and risk is scattered across field guides, the scientific literature, and agency reports. Consequently, attention and resources have been spent on a minuscule fraction of insect diversity, including a few well studied butterflies. Here we bring together heterogeneous sources of information for 396 butterfly species to provide the first regional assessment of butterflies for the 11 western US states. For 184 species, we use monitoring data to characterize historical and projected trends in population abundance. For another 212 species (for which monitoring data are not available, but other types of information can be collected), we use exposure to climate change, development, geographic range, number of host plants, and other factors to rank species for conservation concern. A phylogenetic signal is apparent, with concentrations of declining and at‐risk species in the families Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae. A geographic bias exists in that many species that lack monitoring data occur in the more southern states where we expect that impacts of warming and drying trends will be most severe. Legal protection is rare among the taxa with the highest risk values: of the top 100 species, one is listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act and one is a candidate for listing. Among the many taxa not currently protected, we highlight a short list of species in decline, including Vanessa annabella, Thorybes mexicanus, Euchloe ausonides, and Pholisora catullus. Notably, many of these species have broad geographic ranges, which perhaps highlights a new era of insect conservation in which small or fragmented ranges will not be the only red flags that attract conservation attention.

We construct a deformation of any $(0+1)$-dimensional theory of $N$ bosons with $SO(N)$ symmetry which is driven by a function of conserved quantities that resembles the root-$T \overline{T}$ operator of $2d$ quantum field theories. In the special case of $N=2$ bosons and a harmonic oscillator potential, the solution to the flow equation is the ModMax oscillator of arXiv:2209.06296. We argue that the deforming operator is related, in a particular special regime, to the dimensional reduction of the $2d$ root-$T \overline{T}$ operator on a spatial circle. It follows that the ModMax oscillator is a dimensional reduction of the $4d$ ModMax theory to quantum mechanics, justifying the name. We then show how to construct a manifestly supersymmetric extension of this root-$T \overline{T}$-like operator for any $(0+1)$-dimensional theory with $SO(N)$ symmetry and $\mathcal{N}=2$ supersymmetry by defining a flow equation directly in superspace.