Digital Commons Network^™

Animal Experimentation: Unnecessary And Unacceptable, Marissa S. Dass

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Each year millions of innocent animals are mutilated, burned, poisoned and gassed in unnecessary experiments. Although many argue that animal experimentation is necessary for the progression of society, more specifically the medical advancement of mankind, the fact is that human and animals are different in many way. So much so that today doctors are able to treat diseases on the very level that separates different species, the cellular level. Additionally, it can be argued that we in fact really do not know which animals will react like humans. For instance, humans are unique in getting AIDS from HIV, and suffering …

Almost, Marie Cuneo

Undergraduate Student Symposium

     I’ve been slayed

     by subtle

     intricate

     daring

                    things      that you do

                                          or wish you could

not suppositions,

          but the longing

           I see lurking

                                             behind      your      eyes

A Possibility, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

She’s only seventeen, naïve little thing.

Big dreams with positive motivation, as far as it seems,

      destiny confirms doubtful obligations.

She’s only a princess, praying for her prince.

What is it she strives for? What is it she lives and breathes for?

Look at her, sitting there—just waiting.

The way she smiles—there is only one.

The way she laughs—there are so many.

A Life-Altering Moment, Earl Tinsley

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This creative piece is about two college students, Ally and Cody. Ally is president of SGA and all-around good girl, who holds a major disfavor towards Weston College’ all-star athlete and resident playboy, Cody Dallas. Cody has been around with the ladies of Weston College, many of the infamous flings making the cover of theSpectator (the official newspaper for the college). However, Cody is getting bored with chasing after cheerleaders and sorority girls, and decides to set his aims a little higher, setting his eyes on Ally. His friends, Nick and Jesse, don’t believe he will be as successful with …

A Month For All To Celebrate, Rafia Chodhry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This journalistic piece of writing is about Black History Month. Its purpose is to encourage readers to participate, celebrate and embrace black history. It also describes how the world would be if there were not any contributions from black inventors.

A Mission Into Horvitz Hell, Earl Tinsley

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This editorial piece discusses my memorable experience in the Horvitz Administration Building while surveying staff and students on behalf of the Dean of Student Affairs. During this studious mission, I was met with support and opposition from staff personnel in Horvitz. The opposition started in the most unlikely of places for me, right in the Human Resources Department, a place I have been known to frequent when payroll time came around. While in HR, a staff member didn’t take kindly to my questioning surveys and asked for me to present a valid NSU ID. When I explained I didn’t have …

A Critique Of The Vatican’S “Instruction Of Respect For Human Life In Its Origin And On The Dignity Of Procreation”, Andrew Barry

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This paper critiques a piece written by the Vatican regarding the usage of artificial procreation techniques by various couples and decrees its opinion of such usages as morally permissible or not. The majority of their “instruction” is consistent and validated; however, the Vatican holds overly extreme opinions on many situations, and in those opinions they fail to see exceptions where by their own rules, such acts become morally permissible. Also, one fatal flaw in their view is their absolute association of love and sex in order for a successful marriage to remain consummated. This is preposterous. The Vatican also claims …

A Life-Altering Moment, Earl Tinsley

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Off the coast of Maui stands Weston College, 300,000 square feet and 4 stories tall, surrounded by tons of green acre to the right and to the left, the hot sandy beach of Hawaii. One of Weston College’s most known residents is athletic scholar Cody Dallas – tall, dark, and blond – all the natural qualities for Maui’s local playboy. He is a man with a mission, a man who will break all the rules to bed his next mark. There isn’t a day that goes by that the entire student body is not talking about Cody and his latest …

The Road Ahead, Edward Byer

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Numerous authors have raised alarms regarding both the increase in demand for fossil fuels by a growing global economy and the emergence of underdeveloped nations, such as China and India, and the adverse impacts this use has on our environment. World consumption of oil stands at approximately 84 million barrels per day. The United States, with only 5% of the world’s population, consumes almost one fourth of total world production. With the world’s most accessible energy fields seeing declining production levels, the current price of over $50 per barrel may seem low in years to come, as less accessible sources …

The Role Of Porphyromonas Gingivalis In Atherosclerosis, Zudiyah Darojat

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Porphyromonas ginigivalis is one of the major pathogens primarily responsible for several periodontal diseases such as adult and juvenile periodontitis. Recent studies have found that a form of P. gingivalis has been recognized within the buildup of fatty material and cholesterol of atherosclerotic plaque located in blood vessels. This strongly suggests that P. gingivalis may also be linked to the origin and development of coronary heart disease. The purpose of this literature review project is to elucidate the possible roles that P. gingivalis has in cardiovascular disease by interpreting the procedures and conclusions of several studies on how the invasion …

The Effects Of Various Factors On The Prevalence Of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Behaviors In Undergraduate College Students, Nicole Hook, Lori Pantaleao, Ana Rodriguez, Vanessa Russo

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive and distressing thoughts, urges, and images, as well as repetitive behaviors aimed at decreasing the discomfort caused by these obsessive thoughts. (Anthony, Rachman, Richter, & Swinson, 1998). OCD is estimated to be the second most common psychiatric disorder in both children and adults. (Dell-Osso, Marazziti, Planner, & Presta, et al. 2003). The age of onset in within the college years, yet not many studies have focused on college age students. The study looks at the characteristics of OCD in undergraduate college students. We break the study down into four …

The Note: From A Child’S Heart, Angel Polk

Undergraduate Student Symposium

He passed her the note at recess. It took him a week just to write down exactly how he felt about her. How his knees weakened every time he saw her. How her mama knew exactly how much blue magic grease to put in her head without makin’ her hair all nasty lookin’. To him, that was amazing. Everyone noticed that about her, she was the only girl in Mrs. Johnson’s class not to have a head full of lint, or a face shining like fatback when the sun got hot. Dang she was pretty too. You can always tell …

The Catalytic Conversion Of Saccharides To 5-Hydroxymethyl-2- Furaldehyde (Hmf) – A Petroleum Source: A Comprehensive Study Into Understanding The Binding Of Model Saccharides With Lanthanum And Yttrium Complexes, Raquel Appa, Elaine Hammil

Undergraduate Student Symposium

There is a burgeoning interest to find new sources of petroleum, as this can alleviate oil prices and fossil fuel shortage concerns. Innovation can be focused on possibly converting wood to fuels, or chemical and industrial products. Saccharides have acquired significance industrially as a promising, suitable, and versatile carbon source for substituting petroleum; particularly, the catalytic conversion of saccharides to 5- hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (HMF). Lanthanide (III) ions, (strong Lewis acids), are active catalysts for converting saccharides to HMF:

See full text PDF for molecular illustration.

Proficient lanthanide-catalysts that convert saccharides to HMF have potential impacts on energy and the environment. Consequently, …

Tetrahydrobiopterin: Potential Role In Treatment Of Phenylketonuria, Brianna Woods

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an autosomal recessive metabolic disease caused by a genetic mutation that inhibits the conversion of the amino acid phenylalanine (Phe) into tyrosine. PKU diagnosis is based on detection of high concentrations of Phe in the blood serum. When blood levels of Phe are too high (hyperphenylalaninemia), the condition is toxic and could lead to mental retardation, epilepsy or other neurological abnormalities. Some patients diagnosed with PKU are also defective in the production of or lack the ability to produce tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) due to a genetic defect. BH4 is the cofactor for the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH), which …

Social Security And Social Contract, Lauren Adamcyzk, Jessica Alabastro, Gisella Garcia, Stephanie Rapaci, Jahmila Williams

Undergraduate Student Symposium

During the Great Depression President Franklin Roosevelt forged a Social Contract between the U.S. Government and the American people with his New Deal legislation. Social Security legislation was the cornerstone of the emerging social contract which also included unemployment insurance and work place safety laws. Over the next 40 years this concept of social contract was strengthened, particularly in the area of civil rights and with efforts to reduce income inequality.

During the past 35 years, however, there have been consistent efforts to erode the concept of social contract as we know it. Today the final vestige of social contract, …

National Or Private Health Care – What Is Best For The U.S., Stephanie Blair

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This paper discusses the differences between public and private health care and the outcomes each would have and has on the U.S. This paper also discusses the United States current health insurance system as well as the trends and where we may be headed in the future of health insurance. It observes the past, present and future of health insurance in the U.S. Currently the U.S. has a private healthcare system in which its citizens purchase insurance through a provider or if they cannot afford it or choose to not purchase it then they are uninsured. This paper also includes …

Primary Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Sally Caridi

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Primary Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PPAH) is a rare and progressive intrinsic disease of the pulmonary vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cells. PPAH is generated from a combination of abnormalities interacting at the cellular and molecular level. Since the ability of blood circulating through the lungs to pick up oxygen decreases, the patient experiences shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, dizzy spells, fainting, and even death if undiagnosed or untreated. Common abnormalities that can trigger PPAH involve endothelial cell dysfunction that disrupt a balance between vasoconstrictors and vasodilators, mutations in BMP/TGF-β protein structure that lead to cellular dysfunctions, and the interaction …

Information Technology Outsourcing: An Overview, Gisella Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This research project is to understand the different aspects about Information Technology (IT) Outsourcing and to become informed about the engine that drives the modern organization. The information technology outsourcing trend has become increasingly popular and heavily documented and studied in Europe and the US. The goal of this review is to address the different determinants of this issue, which are business competence causing major controversy during the past years. In addition, this paper provides with future visions on where IT outsourcing is heading.

Obesity And The U.S. Health Care System, Stephanie Rapaci

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Awareness of the impact of obesity on the individual as well as on the health care system has become a major topic of debate in recent years. Nearly two thirds of all American adults are overweight and over 30% are considered obese according to data from the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. This same survey has estimated that the total costs of obesity are as high $117 billion with direct costs of $61 billion and indirect costs of $56 billion. Recent studies (2002) indicate that the direct costs of obesity have risen to $92.5 billion, which represents 9.1% …

Getting Into The Video Game Industry, Thomas Brown

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This research project was made to give high school students, or any one interested, information about getting into the Video Games Industry. The project is composed in website format and translated into three languages, to make it easy for high school students to access the information. While today we know more about the Video Game Industry, what it takes to make games, and what some of the jobs are in the gaming industry, there is still a lot of mystery about what it takes to get into the Video Game Industry. The researcher website reveals the mystery and shows high …

Cultural Perceptions Of Alcohol Use In Children And Adolescents, Dujon Chang

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The proposed project investigates how people’s attitudes toward alcohol consumption vary across ethnic groups. Previous research has clearly shown that patterns of alcohol use are influenced by a group’s norms and attitudes regarding alcohol use. Groups with more liberal attitudes toward alcohol consumption are more likely to have frequent heavy drinkers than groups with more conservative norms and attitudes (Caetano & Clark, 1999). The current study investigates how a group’s norms toward alcohol use extend and apply to the use of alcohol in children and adolescents. We designed a 30-item questionnaire on various eating and drinking habits in adults, adolescents …

A Cross-Cultural Perspective Of Cohabitation In Young Adults, Micaela Mercado

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this study was to examine different perceptions, attitudes and values about cohabitation as present in male and female college students in two culturally different settings: South Florida and Bolivia. Cohabitation is defined as a couple living together in an intimate heterosexual union without being married. Most of the extant research examines attitudes toward cohabitation in middle-aged or elder adults after they have been in a cohabitating relationship for a few years. The present study investigates how young adults perceive cohabitation prior to entering a long-term relationship. The data was collected in both Florida and La Paz, Bolivia. …

Taking It Back, Jason Peebles

Undergraduate Student Symposium

You always thought you were right. You always thought you had the answer.

Well, here are some of the things you thought, that are wrong.

You thought that I went to the Police to spite you. Wrong.

You thought that I had you admitted to the Psych Ward, to make you sorry. Wrong again.

You thought that I left you to make you hurt. Absolutely wrong.

Social Security, How Do We Make It Secure Now And For Generations To Come, Cheryl Clayton

Undergraduate Student Symposium

What is the purpose of Social Security? According to the testimony of Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities before the Senate finance Committee on February 9, 1999, “...the Treasury takes the surplus payroll tax revenues the Social Security Trust Fund is receiving each year and provides the trust fund with Treasury bonds in return. The third problem threatening the future of Social Security, as the 2004 Social Security Administration Trustees report tells us, is that the interest return on these bonds, is a mere 6 percent. In his February 12, 2005 radio address, the President states …

Saving Cranes, Cheryl Clayton

Undergraduate Student Symposium

I am the stuff magic is made of. I am as old as the hills. My home spans from the Arctic Tundra to the South African Veld and I, I am over sixty million years old. My whistles bring courage to the Crow and Cheyenne warriors of North America and my dance is the dance of the tribes of Australia and Siberia. I am the illustrious Crane whose size and looks have inspired humans for thousands of years. (Crane Music, Paul A. Johnsgard)

The Whooping Crane is the rarest of the world’s 15 Crane species. As of August …

Rethinking Turner’S Thesis, Vien Tran

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Turner’s Thesis is a theory that explains various aspects of contemporary American society with respect to the development of the Western frontier. This paper highlights some major ideas in Turner’s Thesis, such as how Americans evolved from their European ancestors, how some of them acquired their rugged individualism, and how democracy was preserved etc. within the context of life in the West. This paper also examines the challenges to Turner’s Thesis posed by modern historians based on new interpretations of historical events.

Take Back The Night, Danielle Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A newspaper article covering the emotional Take Back The Night, an event from Unity Week, at Nova Southeastern University. Take Back The Night united students in an effort to educate each other about violent acts against humanity. The article covers all the important guest speakers and traditions that take place during Take Back The Night. The rally included an informatal session, an open mic piece, and a campus march where students were able to shout out their feelings. The article itself tries to capture the strength of the rally and uses photographs to promote the message.

One Night In Mexico, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Suspense is uniquely utilized in this short story. You may think one this is occurring, but the opposite may too be in the works. A man and a woman are both in Mexico for Halloween. Festivities surround them as he slowly moves toward where she is, plotting in his mind. She waits, unknowing what is about to unfold. What is? Don’t be fooled by the unconventional use of words.

Perpetuating Pre-Feminist Ideals, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Society escapes the drudge of everyday through film. Young girls often attempt to emulate what they see on the big screen. Everyday films that are geared toward the younger female audience often champion pre-feminist ideals. Even films that are meant to empower women do so only by reaffirming a stereotypical feminine character or by allowing them to achieve something in the context of winning acceptance from a man, typically a father figure. This sort of story line reinforces the necessity of male acceptance and entirely disregards feminism. With the plethora of films being released on this subject, the writer sought …

Quien Eres?, Emily Tolzien

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Soy un estudiante

por diez y seis anos,

way too long!

I’ve stayed up

muchas noches

para tomar una nota Buena

en la clase de espanol,

but still I’m not bilingual.