2020 Abstracts

Walker, Caleb; Justin A. Jones (Utah State University)
Faculty Advisor: Jones, Justin (College of Science, Biology Department)

In recent years there has been a large push towards exploring the possibility of using protein-based materials to replace petroleum-based materials. Proteins such as those found in spider silk have been investigated, and this exploration has led to proteins not only being used for fibers, but also gels, foams, and films. As research progressed in protein-based filaments, hagfish intermediate filaments have started being explored, specifically, how to recreate these proteins synthetically and what material forms could be produced from them. In the last year, significant progress has been made into the production and of these novel proteins as well as studying their material applications.

The biocompatibility and cytotoxicity of protein films made of these novel recombinant hagfish proteins was evaluated through in vitro testing with a NIH/3T3 mouse fibroblast cell line. The films were produced from alpha and gamma hagfish proteins, purified as insoluble bodies from genetically engineered E. coli bacteria. Cytotoxicity of the films was tested through direct contact and extract testing using cell viability ratios, cell morphology, a cell proliferation assay, and a DNA quantitation assay.

This preliminary data is important for further experimentation with the novel hagfish proteins being used in the Jones lab for biomedical applications. The understanding of the cytotoxicity of these proteins is required before further testing can be done in any biomedical aspect, as in vitro studies provide the foundational data for moving forward with in vivo testing. This project is the first step into the biomedical field for these novel proteins and their potential applications.

Hansen, Matthew; Kamineni, Abhilash; Zane, Regan (Utah State University)
Faculty Advisor: Kamineni, Abhilash (College of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department); Zane, Regan (College of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department)

Electric vehicles (EV) are becoming a cleaner, more popular mode of transportation. However, more convenient charging solutions are required for higher EV adoption. One possible solution is wireless charging of in-motion EVs, but that technology still needs to mature before realization. This research explores a novel charging technology for an in-road wireless charging pad that may increase the feasibility of in-motion wireless EV charging. The research is based on a commonly used pad design. The charging pad on-board the vehicle operates without direct input from the in-road pad, which simplifies current EV wireless charging designs. When the vehicle is not near an in-road pad, negligible energy is used by the vehicle's charging pad, increasing overall efficiency. As the vehicle approaches an in-road pad, the electromagnetic effects of the approaching, enabled vehicle pad activate the in-road pad. An innovative scheme is used to synchronize the in-road pad to the vehicle pad, achieving maximum power transfer. Protections against system instability have also been included. The control scheme only observes the electromagnetic effects of the approaching vehicle, eliminating the need for any radio frequency communication between the vehicle and road and between subsequent in-road pads. The result is a modular, secure, reliable, and simple design. The design improvements can be an enabling technology to in-motion wireless EV charging and broader EV adoption, which can result in lower emissions in populated areas.

Bundy, Bradley C; Mills, Heather; Nelson, Andrew (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: Bundy, Bradley (Brigham Young University, Chemical Engineering)

Many advantages are associated with cell-free protein synthesis. It is the fastest way to obtain a protein from a gene, and large amounts can be produced.

A common challenge in cell-free protein synthesis is inconsistency in reaction results, when protein yields appear to vary significantly between trials of the same reaction. Correcting this problem by focusing on and adjusting laboratory technique was the platform of this specific research project. Such adjustments aimed to increase the precision with which reagents were measured and the accuracy of the spectrophotometer results; and to decrease potential error created by air bubbles and non-uniformly mixed reagents.

Overall, amounts of protein yield became more consistent as procedural steps were performed with greater focus on laboratory technique. These results indicate that adjusting laboratory technique could potentially help to increase consistency in yield amounts and reduce error in cell-free protein synthesis reactions. Further direction for the research includes using the improved and more accurate CFPS reactions to produce protein therapeutics, which is used in the treatment of various diseases.

Kjar, Andrew; Heap, Mitchell; Wadsworth, Ian; Vargis, Elizabeth; Britt, David (Utah State University)
Faculty Advisor: Britt, David (College of Engineering, Biological Engineering Department); Vargis, Elizabeth (College of Engineering, Biological Engineering Department)

Quercetin is a flavonoid that exhibits antiviral activity against cytomegalovirus infection, the leading cause of non-genetic sensorineural hearing loss in infants. However, delivering quercetin as an antiviral treatment is challenging as it is sparingly soluble in water and highly susceptible to oxidation once solubilized. This study investigated quercetin encapsulation in micelles formed from self-assembled nanocariiers of differing hydrophobic and hydrophilic chain lengths (specifically, F127, P123, and F68). Samples were investigated weekly for two months using UV-vis spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering to determine quercetin chemical stability and micelle size, respectively. Free quercetin and F68-encapsulated quercetin oxidized within one week in PBS, while quercetin encapsulated by Pluronics F127 and P123 remained stable and encapsulated over two months. Pluronics F127 and F68 have similar PEO chain lengths, but the lower hydrophobic PPO content of F68 was insufficient to allow quercetin-loaded F68 to form stable carriers. As a consequence, F68 also did not protect quercetin against oxidation. The decreased PEO chain length of P123 did not inhibit micelle formation nor oxidative protection. These data suggest the length of the hydrophilic chain is not a determining factor in the chemical stability of encapsulated quercetin. Instead, shielding effects appear to correlate to longer hydrophobic segment lengths, as in F127 and P123.

Conclusions: The ability of the selected Pluronics to encapsulate quercetin in stable micelles and inhibit oxidation was highly dependent on PEO/PPO ratios. This work indicates selection of the appropriate delivery vehicle is necessary to improve quercetin's efficacy as an antiviral and antioxidant for inhibiting CMV and associated SNHL.

Craig, Michael W. ; Valle, Hugo E. (Weber State University)
Faculty Advisor: Valle, Hugo (Weber State university, Computer Science)

The purpose of Project Atmosniffer is to develop a scientific and commercial air-quality monitoring and recording tool.
This project has undergone many transformations over the years since its birth and is continuing to be improved during the period of my contributions. Project Atmosniffer has provided me a unique opportunity to enhance my computer science (CS) core skills. From networking, ticket tracking, version control, data analysis, and hands-on experience in the lab.
The atmosniffer has changed much of its hardware. The current version of the Atmosniffer device, upgraded the following components: microprocessor, gas board, dynamic sensor, OLED screen. The new version offers new features like a new CO2 sensor and WiFi connectivity.
More details covering the CS skills utilized in the development of new components and features of the Atmosniffer device will be presented.

Wheeler, Jesse; Bean, Brennan; Schwartz, Sam; Christensen, Randy; Moon, Kevin (Utah State University)
Faculty Advisor: Moon, Kevin (College of Science, Mathematics and Statistics Department)

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) often rely on GPS for navigation. GPS signals, however, are very low in power and are easily jammed or otherwise disrupted. Precise measurements of initial position and motion at the time of GPS signal loss would allow navigation for UAV navigation in GPS denied regions. This work presents a method for determining the navigation errors present at the beginning of a GPS-denied period by utilizing data from a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system. This is accomplished by comparing an online-generated SAR image with a reference image obtained a priori. The distortions relative to the reference image are learned and exploited with a convolutional neural network to recover the initial navigational errors, which can be used to recover the true flight trajectory throughout the synthetic aperture. Our neural network approach outperforms traditional navigation recovery methods as well as other machine learning models.

Pulsipher, Kyle; Despain, Dillon; Wood, David; Fullwood, David T.; Bowden, Anton E. (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: Bowden, Anton (Brigham Young University - Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering); Fullwood, David (Brigham Young University - Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering)

Design and Testing of Flexible Wiring Systems in Biomechanical Devices
Kyle Pulsipher, Dillon Despain, David Wood, David T. Fullwood, Anton E. Bowden
A major challenge to wearable electronic devices is the implementation of required wiring and hardware that can accommodate large deformations and strain. For example, several current biomechanical engineering projects utilize a nanocomposite, wide-range, wearable strain sensing technology developed at BYU. Our research challenge was to create a wearable system of conductive links between a multi-sensor system and a microcontroller, while keeping the system low-profile, inexpensive, and functional when experiencing strains of at least 60%.

Several solutions were hypothesized and tested, including experimental silicone composite solutions with dispersed conductive nanofillers. Mechanical solutions were also contemplated, in the form of geometrically positioning a traditional wire in such a way that it could strain the required amount.

Our final solution utilizes a fine-gauge wire shaped into a sine curve, whose period and amplitude are controlled, such that the stretched length (the arc length of the sine curve) is a required strain factor longer than the period of the function. The wire is coated in an elastic silicone body that maintains the wire at the unstrained shape and length. Our implementation provides 130% of the wiring system and accommodates 16 independent sensor connections.

The wiring system is positioned in such a way that the wires are hidden in the artistic form of the sensing system. This electrical structure is both highly practical and aesthetically pleasing.

Cutler, James; Stanley, Andrew; Ning, Andrew (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: Ning, Andrew (Brigham Young University, Mechanical Engineering)

Wind farms are severely affected by negative wake interactions between turbines. By opti- mizing the tilt angle of the turbines in a farm, wakes may be deflected away from downstream turbines, increasing the overall energy production. In this study, we will optimize the tilt angle of turbines in a wind farm to maximize energy production. We will use an analytic wake model modified to consider wake deflection from tilt, and gradient-based optimization. We will consider optimizing the tilt angle of each turbine assuming that it will remain fixed for the lifetime of the farm. We will also consider active tilt control. Preliminary results with a simple five turbine row show that a large tilt angles of 35_ in the front upstream turbine increases the power production of the five turbines by about 20% compared to the power production with no tilt in the front turbine. Although these preliminary results only consider one wind direction and exaggerate the gains from wake deflection through tilt, we expect that considering a whole wind farm and wind distribution will still result in significant gains.

Bailey J. McFarland, Cheng Chen, Asfand Yar Khan, Harley Cragun, Justin A. Jones and Yu Huang (Utah State University)
Faculty Advisor: Huang, Yu (College of Engineering, Biological Engineering Department); Jones, Justin (College of Science, Biology Department)

Neurological diseases are the largest cause of disability worldwide. Tissue engineering approaches are desirable as they can be used to treat these diseases by replacing damaged and non-repairable brain tissues with engineered materials. Electrospinning of bioactive molecules is a promising materials engineering method to culture neurons and support nervous tissue growth. This suitability for neural cell culture is due to the electrospun material's fibrous and porous structure that mimics the structure of the extracellular matrix. The electrospinning process also allows for the controllable development of complex 3D cell culture, which is key to the creation of viable neural connections. In addition, the formation of both aligned and unaligned layers of fibers allows for intricate guiding of cell morphology that improves outcomes in neural cultures. Finally, the choice of appropriate bioactive materials can improve neurological cell culture. Spider silk, a bioactive protein, contains sequences of amino acids that support nerve cell binding and scaffolding, in complement to which, chitosan fibers have been shown to promote the healthy growth of neural cells.

This project develops a novel method of electrospinning a fibrous scaffold for neural tissue engineering from solutions of recombinant spider silk protein and chitosan. Preliminary results in this study are promising and add to the body of research in neural tissue engineering. These bioactive materials paired with the morphological benefits of electrospinning allow an opportunity to create a substrate that can improve stem cell differentiation into healthy neurons.

Oldham, Keturah; Lignell, David; Stephens, Victoria (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: Lignell, David (Brigham Young University, Chemical Engineering)

Soot is an important but computationally expensive aspect of modeling combustion. To thoroughly predict the way that soot acts, it is necessary to know the number and size of every soot particle in a situation. Since that is clearly not practical, there are a variety of methods to approximate the soot size distribution: the method of moments, assuming monodispersion, and a sectional method. To facilitate the incorporation of these soot models into various applications, a C++ library including these models was created. As part of this C++ library, a sectional model was implemented. This splits the overall soot size distribution into discrete sections, then calculates the soot chemistry involved with these sections. To implement this into the library, a partial sectional model (including only coagulation) was first implemented in Python and compared to verified values. This model was then written in C++, expanded to include the various other soot mechanisms (e.g., growth, oxidation), and incorporated into the larger soot library. The sectional model as part of the soot library will be tested for validity. In summary, to enable the combustion simulation community to more easily simulate soot, a soot library that includes several models was created and expanded to include a sectional model. The use of these models enables modeling to be more accurate due to the easy inclusion of soot in a comparatively computationally inexpensive manner.

Qian,Rui (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: Salmon, John (BYU - Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering); Killpack, Marc (BYU - Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering)

The cooperation between humans and robots may become more intuitive as technology develops. It is foreseeable that soon physical human-robot collaboration may be applied in the area of co-manipulation of objects, especially in search and rescue. It comes naturally for a human dyad to adapt and respond to changes with each other while moving objects. However, it still can be difficult for a robot to determine the motion it should take to best collaborate with a human. In order to optimize robots imitation of humans and improve their efficiency to assist humans, the research aims to design algorithms for robots to move objects in more human-like ways by first analyzing behavioral characteristics of human-to-human collaborations.

During our experiments, we will designate one person per group as a leader and one as a follower to carry a stretcher-like table as a simulated object with force-torque sensors through different obstacles. As the follower will not be explicitly told the intention of the leader, the forces and torques that the follower feels through the object become important for understanding the leader's intent. With standardized specific goals and qualifiers, data will be gathered on the force and torque people exert on the object and motion of table; we will then analyze the correlation and characteristics between the data and people's actual intentions. The data will later be implemented as an algorithm on the robot to help it identify human's intentions and to complete the cooperative task efficiently and smoothly.

Swomitra, Mohanty; Willis, Christina ; Larson, Shaylee (University of Utah)
Faculty Advisor: Mohanty, Swomitra (Engineering, Chemical Engineering)

The World Health Organization has cited tuberculosis (TB) as a global health emergency. As this is a disease that mainly affects those in developing countries, it is important to provide a rapid and affordable means of diagnosis. Emerging work has shown breath biopsy to be a promising resource for diagnosing a variety of diseases, but is particularly promising for TB, as it negates the need for sputum collection that can cause many problems in young or ill patients and can provide results at point of care.

The breath of a patient diagnosed with TB contain volatile organic biomarkers (VOBs) that are given off by the bacteria that cause the disease. Detection of VOBs with via metal-functionalized titanium dioxide sensors has been successful in very sick patients, however it is limited in its ability to detect low analyte levels and has unknown specificity in a complex human breath matrix. Preliminary results indicate that the use of an engineered electroactive solution (EAS), a liquid-phase complex which utilizes a functional metal in solution, can improve the current sensing platform by simplifying the electrode configuration and allowing the use of more complex electrochemical techniques (in this case square wave voltammetry (SWV)). Because the margins of detection can be quite small, successful optimization of SWV parameters is vital. The proposed project will explore a means of optimizing these parameters by collecting a variety of sample data in order to determine how the electrochemical activity of the EAS is altered when biomarkers are introduced.

Gibbons, Andrew; Clingo, Kelly; Emmett, Darian; Fullwood, David; Bowden, Anton (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: Fullwood, David (Brigham Young University, Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering; Engineering and Technology); Bowden, Anton (Brigham Young University, Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering; Engineering and Technology)

Spine dysfunctions such as stenosis and herniated discs have traditionally been diagnosed using X-ray or MRI imaging techniques; but these methods capture a snapshot of the problem, without revealing the positional dependence of the causes and effects. In order to provide a richer dataset to physicians, an NIH-funded project has begun with the aim of tracking details of spinal motion for people with healthy and symptomatic backs. Novel nanocomposite strain gauges will be used to capture skin deformation during typical back motion, and correlate these data with back motions that are known to reveal chronic subcutaneous trauma. This paper focuses on the optimal placement of strain gauges for maximum resolution of the underlying biomechanics.

An array of reflective markers was placed on a healthy individual's lower back between the L5 and T10 vertebrae. A QUALISYS motion capture lab was then used to determine the coordinates of these markers during flexion, rotation, flexion with rotation, and side bending. These motions were repeated 3 times for 10 seconds. The distances between markers were calculated for each motion and the strain values between resting and flexed positions were determined. Initial validation was performed by comparing a maximum tensile strain of 0.54, between the L5 and L1 vertebrae in flexion, with a previously reported value of 0.5 in the literature.

This paper will report the development of an optimal arrangement of sensors for resolving the relevant biomechanics of the spine, based upon a detailed analysis of the optical marker results. Future work will utilize these results to develop a skin mounted, wearable sensor array that can measure the real-time kinematics of the spine and compare them with a database of healthy and low back pain subjects using a machine-learning paradigm. We hope to use the system to identify mechanical sources of low-back pain.

Jacobs, Matt (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: George, Andy (Engineering, School of Technology); Miles, Mike (Engineering, School of Technology)

Composites are unique materials in many respects. When fabric woven from carbon fibers is joined with a thermoset resin in a controlled environment, it results in a very strong material. One aspect of this construction that provides great strength lies in the crosslinked chains of plastic polymers, which form strong bonds as the resin cures. It's a two-edged sword, though. Although the resin and the composite are quite strong together, they are very difficult to pull apart once they're formed, in order to be able to use again in the future. As such, composite structures formed with industry-standard thermoset resins have a single-use lifespan. The cheapest thing to do to dispose of them is to simply throw them away. However, by isolating the dry fibers by burning off the resin (a process called pyrolysis), the fibers are able to be processed again in useful ways — they are reclaimed. My research focuses on pyrolysis and ways to optimize its process. I aim to showcase its environmentally-friendly capabilities through making new composite structures with fibers reclaimed via pyrolysis to lessen landfill waste.

For the experimental phase of the research, a roll of unprocessed carbon fiber material will be selected for producing 4 test groups:
Virgin-sized carbon fibers
Fibers that have undergone pyrolysis
Fibers infused to part and reclaimed with pyrolysis, oxygen-free environment
Fibers infused to part and reclaimed with pyrolysis, ambient air environment

Fiber samples will then be processes into 3mm length fibers. Fibers will then be introduced to Matrix at TBD% Fiber volume content, following which, dog bones will be molded from samples for tensile testing. Dog bones will then be tensile tested and analyzed at fracture point.

Response variables involved include:
Oxygen vs deoxygenated atmosphere (during pyrolysis),
Bath vs spray vs no application (method of sizing).
Control variables include:
Fiber & Sizing,
Fiber resin ratio,
Fiber Length,
Pyrolysis Time & Temp.

Post-pyrolysis fibers will then be chopped, blended with plastic (polymer TBD) and extruded, cut into pellets, and injection molded into dog-bones for tensile testing. The resulting mechanical properties of the carbon fiber reinforced plastic compared with standard injection molding polymers as well as fully-cured composite.

Although uncertainties exist in the viability of sizing application and surface treatment for composites recycling, building upon previous work in pyrolysis and utilizing the unique resources available at BYU (composites lab, ready access to aerospace-grade fibers, industry standard processing equipment, scanning electron microscopes, etc.), the work's importance and potential for contributions to the field are clear.

Baker, Spencer; Charles, Steven (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: Charles, Steven (Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering)

Essential tremor is one of the most common movement disorders and affects millions nationwide. Its debilitating effects and lack of satisfactory treatments accentuates the need for new tremor-suppressing methods. Alternative treatments are possible but would be more effective if tremor propagation from neurological activity to joint movement was better understood. The purpose of this research was to further develop previous investigations and discover the effects deep upper limb muscles on tremor propagation.
A model of the upper limb was developed to simulate tremor propagation from neural drive to muscle force, joint torque, and degree of freedom movement. An analysis of the model revealed four tremor propagation principles. (1) Musculoskeletal dynamics spread neural drive to multiple outputs, act as a low-pass filter in the tremor bandwidth, and cause a phase shift between muscle activity and joint movement. (2) Tremor spreads primarily due to inertia and secondarily due to moment arm geometry. (3) Tremor spreads narrowly. (4) The degree of freedom most affected by the tremor is wrist flexion-extension.
These conclusions provide new information regarding the propagation of tremor from superficial and deep upper-limb muscles, lay the foundation for determining the muscular source of tremor, and will assist in future tremor treatments.

Harrison, Jake; Romney, Alexander C. (Utah State University)
Faculty Advisor: Romney, Alexander (Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, Marketing and Strategy Department)

Narcissism in organizations is becoming increasingly prevalent, as evidenced by the growing number of CEOs that seek acclaim and dominance, often at the expense of others (Chatterjee, 2017). Narcissism is defined as "individuals for whom enhancing the positivity of the self (specifically, to achieve status and esteem) is overwhelmingly important" (Campbell, 2004), and most often wields a detrimental influence on organizations. Typically, narcissism within organizational leadership has shown to lead employees to view managers' behavior as self-serving, lowering perceptions of managerial trustworthiness and increasing the likelihood of employee silence (Hamstra, 2019). Additionally, scholars have empirically demonstrated that silence provokes specific emotions, with anger being a particularly common emotional consequence of silence (Kirrane, 2017). The main effect of narcissism seems to lie in a stronger arousal of anger (Laurenz, 2013), which in turn may energize employees to proactively change the situation (Lebel, 2016). Employees often generate awareness of specific dissatisfying aspects of work by means of prohibitive voice (Chamberlin, 2017), which emphasizes harmful, failing, or wrongful work practices or events that currently exist (Liang, 2012).
In this study, I hope to examine how a leader's narcissism could arouse anger in employees and energize them to engage in prohibitive voice. Specifically, I hypothesize that a higher level of anger derived from a narcissistic leader's actions will positively correlate to a higher frequency of employee voice.

Hypotheses:
1. Perceived managerial narcissism will relate positively to employee voice.
2. Perceived anger will mediate the relationship between managerial narcissism and employee voice.
3. Employee status will moderate the relationship between managerial narcissism and employee voice.

This study is aimed to contribute to our understanding of the correlation between leadership and employee voice. I will test these hypotheses by recruiting 200 full-time employees to complete a survey. No identifying information will be collected.

Arthur, Staci (Weber State University)
Faculty Advisor: Biolowas, Anne (Weber State University, Communication)

The United States is home to a vast range of diverse people, however even though there is so much diversity in society the idea of beauty is pretty still very limited. Body image issues and discrimination are especially prevalent in minority groups including the plus size community. According to G.M. Eller fat people have a harder time obtaining jobs, college education, and just making a good impression on people than skinnier people solely based on their body size. These discriminations are argued to be deeply rooted in American culture and the best way Eller suggests to combat it is through educating people on the realities of obesity and not just the often harsh, outdated judgements. This paper is a textual analysis that utilizes Muted Group Theory in relation to the 2019 motion picture, Isn't It Romantic to unpack discrimination against the plus size community. Concepts from Muted Group Theory such as assimilation, separation, and accommodation are discussed. This paper argues that the movie is a positive step forward into making the plus size community's voice fall under the accommodation concept in Muted Group Theory rather than assimilation or separation especially in relationship to the dominant group in society.

Westover, Jonathan; Hardy, Danielle; Arvizu, Annie; Johnson, Jace; Powell, Spencer (Utah Valley University)
Faculty Advisor: Westover, Jonathan (Woodbury School of Business, Academic Director, Center for Social Impact)

Purpose - The purpose of this presentation and paper is to explore work-life balance predictors of job satisfaction across various generations, using international sample of workers across 37 countries. The four generational cohorts included in the analysis include Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennial.

Design/methodology/approach: This study provides a comparative analysis of work-life balance indicators of overall job satisfaction across generational cohorts, utilizing data from the 2015 Work Orientations IV Wave of the International Social Survey Program (including stratified random samples of employees across 37 different countries).

Findings: Initial analyses indicate statistically significant differences in work-life balance related indicators of employee job satisfaction across generational cohorts. Additional analyses will be performed to clarify these relationships and further explore the causes behind the differences.

Originality/Value: While many studies have been performed on job satisfaction, very few studies have explicitly examined job satisfaction levels and its indicators across generations. Additionally, while many studies have examined the role of work-life balance saliency on job satisfaction across generational cohorts, and no research has previously been done examining these relationships cross-nationally.

Keywords Job satisfaction, Generational Differences, Work-life Balance, Cross-national

Purpose/Hypothesis:

We hope to supply statistical evidence that there are differences in the saliency and impacts of work-life balance variables on job satisfaction across generational cohorts. Specific hypotheses include:

H1: There are statistically significant differences in the mean scores of job satisfaction and work-life balance variables across generational cohorts.

H2: One's age (generational cohort grouping) has a positive statistically significant impact on job satisfaction.

H3: One's age cohort has a statistically significant impact on the determinants of job satisfaction.

H4: There are statistically significant cross-national differences in the impact of generational cohort on job satisfaction.