Digital Commons Network^™

Physical Properties Of Engineered Nanocomposites For Defense Applications, Alex Henson, Sanju Gupta

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Polymer nanocomposites are significant for modern and future technologies (aerospace, defense, water purification etc.) due to their tailored properties, lightweight and low cost. However, ‘forward’ engineered polymer (host matrix) composites with smaller size nanoparticles (guest) providing desired properties targeting specific applications remains a challenging task as they depend largely on nanoparticles size, shape and loading (volume fraction). This study develops polymer nanocomposites impregnated with ‘organic-inorganic’ silsesquioxane nanoparticles and graphene nanoribbons, and investigates microscopic structure and dynamics of interfacial layer to predict macroscale properties. The nanocomposites consist of poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP) polymer (segment ~5nm) with spherical silsesquioxane nanoparticles (diameter ~2-5nm) and planar …

L-Serine Reduces Reactive Oxygen Species Yield In Cisplatin Treated Zebrafish Utricles, Satya A. Moolani, Elvin Irihamye, Jerry D. Monroe, Michael E. Smith

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Cisplatin is a chemotherapy compound effective against a variety of cancers. However, it can act as an ototoxin and cause hearing loss by promoting reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in auditory tissues. The antioxidant amino acid, L-serine has been hypothesized to lower levels of cisplatin-mediated ROS. In this project, we investigated whether L-serine can reduce cisplatin-mediated ROS production in auditory tissue and potentially act as an otoprotectant during cisplatin chemotherapy. We used a zebrafish utricular tissue culture system and fluorescent ROS indicator dye to spectrophotometrically measure if L-serine could decrease reactive oxygen species levels in cisplatin-treated tissues. We found that …

Histone Deacetylation Is The Primary Epigenetic Mechanism For Silencing Of Tumor Suppressor Gene - Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor-2 In Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells, Alisha Deshmukh, Shirish Barve

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer related mortality worldwide. With a survival rate of less than 5 percent, a therapeutic treatment is desperately needed to manage this disease. Many epigenetic mechanisms that underlay HCC are being identified. A frequently silenced pathway tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) is a critical tumor suppressor gene. In HCC, inactivation of TFPI-2 leads to tumor growth. Recent research indicated Fas L plays a major role in apoptosis as part of HCC. For the purposes of this study, the phytochemical Curcumin was explored to observe its possible effects on the epigenetic mechanisms …

The Undeniable Attraction Of Lunar Swirls, Cierra Waller, Dhananjay Ravat

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Lunar swirls are complex patterns on the Moon with distinct brightness signatures and magnetic characteristics. Current research has suggested that the formation of lunar swirls relies on local magnetic fields to shield impinging solar wind, based on a shift in electromagnetic wavelength peaks related to solar radiation and space weathering. Our research combined recent models and methods to characterize these anomalies at the surface of the Moon, exploring the effects of field strength and position. We have produced a high resolution map of a famous swirl named Reiner Gamma using magnetic dipole modeling. These maps and models are considered when …

Cloud Security, Isabella Roth, Jose Salazar, Yi Hu

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Isabella Roth

Jose Salazar

Professor Yi Hu

Computer Information Technology

Cloud Security: AWS Abstract

With enterprises moving their IT infrastructure to the cloud using providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), security problems have not been reduced. In fact, cloud computing brings new security challenges. Our research investigated better solutions to the security problems that come with using the cloud to store a companies data.

The cloud is a general term for using the internet to receive some sort of data vs connecting directly to a server. This makes it easier to do things such as connecting to an online app …

Leap Of Faith: Megachurches And The Struggle To Create A Brand Experience That Sells, Carly Middleton

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Leap of Faith: Megachurches and the struggle to create a brand experience that sells

Carly Middleton

Marcie Hinton, PhD

Department of Journalism and Mass Communications

Murray State University

As churches across the Commonwealth experience a decline in attendance, membership and giving, religious organizations are failing to connect with their audience and their organizational goals on social media. This exploratory content analysis evaluated the social media branding practices of Kentucky’s 20 megachurches and proposed areas of improvement.

A megachurch is defined as a Protestant Christian congregation with an average of 2,000 weekly attendees, including adults and children across all worship locations. …

A Brain-Friendly Approach To Music Literacy, Taylor Davis

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The purpose of this study was to explore how the brain processes information, stores it in long-term memory and then applies that knowledge to teaching music in a classroom/rehearsal setting. We observed how the working memory, the system responsible for processing information from short-term and long-term memory can function with greater efficiency. We observed how the number of items available for processing in the working memory may be increased through a process identified as “chunking.” Chunking is when short patterns, or bits of information, are combined to form longer sequences. When applying these brain-friendly learning concepts to music, the instructor …

Catalytic Deoxygenation Of Model And Realistic Feeds To Fuel-Like Hydrocarbons Over Supported Nickel-Copper Catalysts, Deyshon Ward, Kazi Javed

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The goal was to make a renewable fuel by using catalysts to remove oxygen molecules from fats. This is a current issue that society faces today because nonrenewable fossil fuels hurt the environment more than they help it. There are two components that make up a heterogeneous catalyst, a support and a reduced metal active phase. The active metal phases Nickel, Palladium, Platinum have been studied in the past on an alumina and carbon supports. We were investigating other supports using Nickel as the active phase component to determine the effect the support has on the catalyst removing oxygen of …

An In Vitro Study On Skin Protection Across The Uv Spectra, Cheyenne Boone

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Skin cancer is the number one cancer in the United States. Lack of awareness of how harmful UV radiation is could be the cause of the over two million cases reported since 2012. It appears that there is not a lot information on the active ingredients used in sunscreens. Some of the compounds have been linked to birth defects, hormone disruptions, and the bleaching of coral reefs. Samples of commonly used sunscreens (both sprays and creams), cosmetic foundation, essential oils, lotions, and three pure organic actives were tested at specific concentrations and ran through a UV spectrometer. The results have …

"Not A Simple Matter: Rejecting Materialism As A Solution To The Mind-Body Problem", Andrew Coyle, Steve Parchment Dr., Minh Nguyen Dr.

Posters-at-the-Capitol

"Not a Simple Matter: Rejecting Materialism as a Solution to the Mind-Body Problem"

By Andrew Coyle

Mentored by Dr. Steve Parchment and Dr. Minh Nguyen

Department of History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies Many scholars accept materialism as an adequate solution to the mind-body problem. However, acceptance of materialism creates more problems than it purports to solve. This poster provides a background to the mind-body problem. This poster explores materialism as a potential solution to the mind-body problem. After reviewing materialism, it is rejected as an adequate solution to the mind-body problem. The poster concludes by positing property dualism as an …

Early Childhood Stressors And Negative Personality Behaviors, Kyler Joachim

Scholars Week

Early Childhood Stressors and Negative Personality Behaviors

Research is moving away from static to contextual models of understanding personality development, making it imperative to consider daily occurrences, not just biology or significant traumatic events, in personality formation. Temperament has long been considered the innate source of behaviors that later solidify into personality, but behaviors themselves and the conditions that produce and reinforce them are shaped by the daily environment. This behavior-environment interaction is especially important for children experiencing childhood stressors like poverty, food insecurity, and parental aggravation. Non-clinical personality related behaviors may arise from these stressors, which can lead to …

Head Start And Internalizing/Externalizing Behaviors, Camila Ferreira

Scholars Week

Children who attend Head Start program are impacted in externalizing/internalizing behaviors, and many other areas. The abstract explains how the study analyzes these impacts, and how temperament and parental involvement also play a role in behaviors.

College Concerns And Coping, Olivia Brice

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

Electrocortical Responses During Script-Driven Emotional Imagery, Nicholas Best, Cassandra Gonzalez, David Herring Ph.D.

Scholars Week

Emotional imagery is a common induction technique used in the laboratory and also employed in various exposure therapy treatments across the anxiety spectrum (e.g., specific and social phobias). Despite its clinical uses, there is a surprising dearth of literature regarding the basic central neural processes underlying emotional imagery, though other peripheral physiological processes have been investigated extensively using heart rate, skin conductance, and startle-blink responses. One imagery study that used a central nervous system psychophysiological measure -event specific brainwave or the event-related potential (ERP) technique- suggests the late positive potential (LPP) of the ERP is larger for unpleasant versus neutral …

Parenting During Childhood On Adolescent Social Engagement, Cassie Gonzalez

Scholars Week

Healthy social skills development prepares children and adolescents for a future of healthy interactions, effective communication, and meaningful relationships. Parental involvement and aggravation in parenting contribute differently to the development of social skills. Literature suggests higher levels of parental involvement is related to higher levels of child social skills ratings, while decreased ratings of aggravation in parenting are associated with higher ratings of maternal involvement and child social skills. Whereas existing literature have explored the impact of non-resident father involvement, academic consequences, and dual-parent homes on the development of child social skills, few studies examine the effects of aggravation in …

Groundwater Contamination At Coal Ash Deposit Sites In Kentucky, Brandon Rose

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

Kentucky Flood And Flash Flood Comparison Of 1996 And 2017 Using Gis, Harrison Kelly

Scholars Week

No abstract provided.

Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley And Prometheus In The Role Of Creator., Victoria Walker

Scholars Week

This paper tries to compare and contrast the fictional characters Victor Frankenstein, Prometheus, and the writer Mary Shelley and their role of creator.

Victor’S Dual Diagnosis: An Exploration Of Mental Illness In Frankensteinian Times, Elizabeth Tretter

Scholars Week

Victor’s Dual Diagnosis: An Exploration of Mental Illness in Frankensteinian Times

Before the advances of modern psychology, treatment of the mentally insane consisted of cruel and torturous methods that involved beating, starving, or bleeding patients often until the point of death. It was not until the late eighteenth century that a revolutionary kind of moral treatment was introduced by William Tuke, an English Quaker and founder of The Friends’ Retreat. Founded in 1879, the small retreat in York set the precedent for future asylums with their meticulous record keeping that included their own standardized diagnoses and symptoms of mental illnesses. …

Barriers To Change For Augmentative And Alternative Communication Use, Lauren E. Brown

Scholars Week

Title: BARRIERS TO CHANGE FOR AUGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION USE

Keywords: speech language pathology, augmentative and alternative communication, counseling, readiness to change, self-efficacy

In recent literature, there has been a marked increase in importance placed upon understanding what factors both positively and negatively impact the progress made by a client and that client’s family in response to speech and language therapy. Today, clinicians prioritize evidence based practice (EBP) when making clinical decisions, focusing on not only clinical expertise and best evidence, but also client and caregiver perspectives, or preferences (ASHA, 2018). In consideration of EBP for augmentative and alternative communication …

Evaluating The Effects Of Handmade Cards On Hospitalized Patients’ Health, Abigail Prins

Scholars Week

Social support has a major influence on the health of patients. However, many hospitalized patients receive little or no visits from friends or family. The absence of social support may have negative effects on patients’ health. The knowledge of health benefits from social support are growing, however, there is little research on interventions offering support. The purpose of this research project is to evaluate the intervention of giving handmade cards to patients in the hospital setting on psychological and physiological health. The design will indicate if gifting handmade cards elicits effects of social support. The investigator used a convenience sample …

Determining The Frequency For Chronic Foley Catheter Cleaning And Changing, Jeral Mack

Scholars Week

The title of this research project is “Determining the Frequency for Chronic Foley Catheter Cleaning and Changing”. The project was conducted by Jeral Mack, a senior Murray State University School of Nursing student. The initial investigation for the topic of this research was to determine defined guidelines for chronic foley cleaning and changing for a hospital-specific policy. In this paper, an analysis of four published research articles was conducted to define the best practice for the prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) as it relates to chronic Foley catheter cleaning and changing in healthcare settings. In nursing, using the …

Finding Ft. Smith And Ft. Star In Smithland, Ky, Austin Valentine, Austin Valentine Jr.

Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Through the utilization of Light Detection and Ranging data, one can compile 3-dimensional models that can be used to spot anomalies of historical interest. These anomalies, if recognizable by the trained eye, can then be used to geo-reference historic maps to gain a better understanding of historic sites as well as to reveal possible areas of interests or unknown features.

By using a 3-dimensional model compiled by LiDAR data, I was able to geo-reference a December 13^th, 1861 map of the Civil War defenses for the town of Smithland, Kentucky. Through this process, I have been able to …

A Voyage Into The Abyss – A Look Into The First Year Of The Jamestown Settlement, Austin Valentine, Austin Valentine Jr.

Student Scholarship & Creative Works

A brief introduction into the first year at the Jamestown settlement and the troubles the settlers faced upon arrival to the New World.

A Comparative Analysis Of Non-Invasive Exploration Techniques Lidar Vs. Aerial Photography – Kincaid Mounds Archaeological Site, Austin Valentine, Austin Valentine Jr.

Student Scholarship & Creative Works

KINCAID MOUNDS - A Comparative Analysis of Non-invasive Exploration Techniques is a journal of my efforts to conduct non-invasive site investigations at the Kincaid Mounds Archaeological site in Southern Illinois. Through the utilization of tools such as; drones, photography, satellite imaging, light distance and ranging, and powerful analysis software, I will demonstrate a number of useful techniques which one can utilize to conduct independent site investigations without disturbing a sites landscape or structural integrity. Thus, illustrating differences between those techniques and pointing out their strengths and weaknesses in their various applications.

During this journey, I will also venture into the …

Unraveling Path, Ana Traceski

B.F.A. Practicum Exhibition (ART 498)

My art is an expansive pool of contrasting ideas formed by observation of the two cultures that have influenced who I am today. My art is about similarities and differences; of past times and of new experiences, of memories old and new. My art is about past and present surroundings that are cast in a different light, a new scope, by being filtered through personal expression. By spending time painting in my studio and by exploring subjects and characters from my life, near and far in order to artistically convey a moment in time.

Perceptions, receptions and misconceptions occur as …

2018-10-19, Board Of Regents, Murray State University

Board of Regents Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Colliding Spaces, Nancy Craven

B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499)

Figurative work is what drives my art to convey and evoke emotion. The figures become derivatives of nature using organic lines, whether they are a naturalistic depiction or an abstraction.

My preferred mediums are woodworking and drawing. Many of my wood projects focus on form and are constructed of smooth, flowing lines with open spaces. My form-focused works are often modeled after things such as nature, the figure or music, and target a specific emotion or idea. Some of my works incorporate drawing and work in conjunction with a wood so that a specific concept can be conveyed. In …

Colliding Spaces, Hailey Church

B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499)

As a figurative painter, I use my art to tell a story and evoke a feeling of seclusion vs. inclusion with my viewers. I use semi-anonymous figures to drive the feeling of relatability - whether that feeling is coming from a witness or a victim, is up to the viewer.

Tending to work with oil paint and loving its fluidity, the work I produce is about self-healing and growth through struggles. My work is inspired by the toughness instilled in me at a young age and the idea that, in order to help others, I must be able to help …

Happy Family Company, Jaden Keeling

B.A./B.S. Practicum Group Exhibit (ART 499)

Happy Family Company was inspired by the people I meet on mission trips I take every two years. It is a wonderful experience that I encourage everyone I meet to partake in. Although mission trips are usually emotionally exhausting, overall the mood I experience is happiness. There is happiness within the families, as well as excitement and joy when they see our team. I revisit old friends and make new ones. My Jamaican friends are positive people who do not dwell on what they do not have.

This is the inspiration I wanted to capture in my brand. My brand …