Digital Commons Network^™

Memory And Attention While Scuba Diving, Stephanie Talavera, Anastasia Zwenger

Undergraduate Student Symposium

There is a high level of cognitive functioning required by SCUBA diving given the task loading that divers experience. Poor memory and attentional skills are reported by divers while under water, especially as the depth of the dive increases. In this study, participants completed both shallow (8 m) and deep (28 m) dives. Participants learned and were tested on a list of 36 words, completed the trail making task to assess executive functioning, and completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to assess anxiety levels. The Profile of Mood States survey was also completed and they provided saliva samples to measure cortisol …

Metabolic Inactivation Of Angiotensin 1-7 (Ang 1-7), Mahnoor Asif, Christy Abraham

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays a role in the control of the cardiovascular system by modulating blood pressure. While Angiotensin II (Ang II) serves as a vasoconstrictor and is the most well-known of the RAS peptides, Angiotensin 1-7 (Ang 1-7) is a peptide gaining interest in its countereffects to Ang II and may serve as its antagonist. However, the rapid metabolism and subsequent inactivation of Ang 1-7 precludes its use in radioactive binding assays. For this reason, peptidase inhibitors were added to assays involving ¹²⁵I-Ang1-7 or an analog ¹²⁵I-alamandine. This study uses high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) to …

Mind Wandering: The Powerful Effects Of Mindfulness Meditation, Alyssa Garcia, Samantha Suarez, Zykiah Daniels

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The contents of one’s thoughts can be very powerful. Mind wandering refers to thoughts that are offtask. Negative task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) decrease sustained attention task performance. Mind wandering leads to a decrease in reading comprehension and working memory, which can negatively impact workplace, academic, and daily performances. Mindfulness meditation training increases sustained attention on the present and decreases attention on the past and future. Specifically, meditation training decreases mind wandering reports. The current study tested whether a brief fifteen minute mindfulness induction could moderate the effect of the negative affect manipulation on a sustained attention task. Participants were randomly assigned …

Mind Your Thoughts: Individual Differences In Mind Wandering, Chethani Chitraacharige, Catherine Weber, Brianna Thompson, Dayna Jetmore

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Mind wandering consumes almost half of our day, while influencing behaviors and activities experienced throughout individuals’ lives (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). The impact of mind wandering on task performance may vary but typically, task performance is impaired when people mind wander (Randall, Oswald, & Beier, 2014). The current study examined predictors of mind wandering in both the laboratory and the real world. New to this study we examined mind wandering across two dimensions: emotional valence and intentionality. To measure mind wandering in the lab, participants completed a sustained attention task with thought probes. Mind wandering in the real world was …

Parasites Of Raptorial Birds Of South Florida, Vanessa Blanchard

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Raptors are a polyphyletic group of birds characterized by predatory behavior and physiology. They regulate small mammal and reptile populations, playing key roles in local ecosystems as apex predators; as such, they are themselves largely regulated by their parasites. However, little is known regarding the species composition and structure of their endoparasite communities. To address this knowledge gap, we surveyed endoparasites of southeast Florida raptors: American kestrels (Falco sparverius), peregrine falcons (F. peregrinus), merlins (F. columbarius), Cooper’s hawks (Accipiter cooperii), sharp-shinned hawks (A. striatus), red-shouldered hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), …

Parents: To Or Not To Genetically Enhance Children, Genesis Alvarez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Genetic therapy and genetic enhancement technology are not only developing at a rapid rate, but are also now, as proven by a Chinese scientist’s recent breakthrough, being utilized for unnecessary purposes, reasons beyond disease prevention and treatment. This development both drives society’s concern for ethical use of genetic technology and presents issues that society must immediately address. This work acknowledges the ethical concerns society has regarding genetic enhancement and subsequently analyzes a significant consequence that would come about were said practice implemented. This analysis of genetic enhancement’s morality is carried out from an ethics of care perspective, with a particular …

Population Dynamics Of Branching Corals Pocillopora Spp. In Devil's Crown, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Ean Brinker

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Corals in the genus Pocillopora (e.g. P. elegans and P. damicornis) are important reef constructors in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Pocillopora spp. are also susceptible to bleaching and mortality from temperature shifts associated with El Niño-Southern Oscillation events, affecting their contribution to benthic community structure. Colony numbers and live tissue surface area have been monitored at Devil’s Crown, Galápagos Islands for the past 36 years (1983–2017). This project quantifies the data collected in 2017, in preparation for another site visit in May 2019. In previous analyses, colony numbers ranged from 0 (1983–1995) to a maximum of 154 colonies in …

Pre-Reading And Prewriting In Prekindergarten, Janet Lopez, Lina Orrego-Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The present research looks at the behaviors associated with the stages before actual reading and writing in 4-5 year old preschoolers. An Achenbach-style behavior checklist will be created and tested for adequate psychometric properties. The main purpose of this study will be to create a Pre-reading and Prewriting Behavior Checklist with high reliability and validity. The Checklist will be used and verified by multiple independent observers. In future studies, it will be used to test hypotheses for improving preschool development of reading and writing skills. Pre-reading and prewriting skills are important for kindergarten readiness and further academic success, especially in …

Presenting Complaints Among Women Who Present To A Community Health Center In Gujarat, India, Maria Trinidad Miguel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Little is known about the frequency of presenting problems among women in rural areas of Gujarat, India have not been reported or investigated carefully. The objective of this secondary data analysis is to determine the prevalence of presenting problems among women who presented to Dr. Kiran C. Patel Multi-Specialty Hospital in Ahwa, Dang District in Gujarat, India. Demographic and descriptive statistics are presented for the analysis of reports of primary complaints recorded in patient charts over a 6-day time period (December 10-14, 2018). Patients were classified by age, gender, chief complaint, and BMI. Results of this research will inform future …

Rate Of Phosphate Uptake By Periphyton In The Everglades, Kiersten Monahan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Periphyton is an essential source of primary productivity and plays a major role in the removal and short-term storage of phosphorus in the Florida Everglades. In recent decades, runoff from the Everglades Agricultural Area has caused a serious nutrient pollution problem. In the oligotrophic wetlands, the increase of phosphorus leads to the growth of species that disrupts the ecosystem. In order to gauge the response of periphyton to these environmental changes, the rate of phosphate uptake by epipelon, metaphyton, and epiphyton mats are measured following spikes of either 150, 500, or 1000 ppb of potassium phosphate. The experiment was conducted …

Relationship Between Countermovement Jump Power And Kick Start Biomechanics In Elite Swimmers, Caroline Oster, Angela Cicenia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The counter movement jump (CMJ) is a commonly used test to assess lower body power. It has been shown carryover to grab and track start performances in swimming despite the fact the CMJ is performed vertically and starts are performed horizontally. Kick starts use an adjustable inclined footrest. It is unknown if CMJ is associated with kick start biomechanics. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between CMJ and kick start performance. Fourteen elite swimmers (males, 9; females, 5; age, 21.3 ± 1.7 yrs; height, 1.79 ± 0.08 m; mass, 77.1 ± 10.7 kg) participated. CMJ height …

Relationship Between Stance Phase Frontal Plane Kinematics And Initial Impact Forces In Collegiate Cross Country Runners, Deborah Fortino

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Result Size: 437 x 476

Rearfoot eversion (REV) and contralateral pelvis drop (CPD) play a crucial role in force absorption at impact during running. Controlling and adequately absorbing the repetitive vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) at impact is essential in injury prevention. PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine the relationships between vGRF and REV, and vGRF and CPD bilaterally in collegiate cross country runners. METHODS: Eleven asymptomatic (5 females, 6 males) NCAA Division II cross country runners (age, 19.1 ± 1.1 yrs; height, 174.2 ± 11.2 cm; mass 62.2 ± 6.2 kg; 38.3 ± 15.9 miles/wk, treadmill speed, 3.6 ± …

Release Kinetics Of Anti-Sema4d Monoclonal Antibody From Alginate Beads, Nicole Levin

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Background/Introduction: The reconstruction of bone in critical size defects presents clinical challenges in cranio and oral maxillofacial surgery. The long-term goal of this project is to regenerate a resilient bone for the repair of these defects. A recent study revaled that Semaphorin 4D (Sema4D), a pleiotropic transmembrane glycoprotein, expressed by osteoclasts inhibits osteoblast differentiation. Our hypothesis holds that local delivery of anti-Sema4D monoclonal antibody (mAb) adjunct to bone-regenerative cell-therapy may enhance osteoblast differentiation. However, currently, no methodology is available for the local mAb delivery. In this study, we intended to develop a novel alginate-based anti-Sema4D-mAb delivery system. Objective: The objective …

Risk: Health And Self Control, Julieta Murzi Vargas

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Assessing the frequency with which college students undertake behaviors that have long - lasting health impacts could help us establish better preventative programs on campuses. This research will review risky decisions associated with nutrition, sleep habits, chemically-altering substances and their use, sexual safety, and general self-preservation. People are more prone to exhibiting impatience with shortterm decisions, while too much patience for long-term decisions (Mullainathan & Thaler, 2000), therefore students may undertake future risk due to present impatience and underestimation of the weight of the future risk. The purpose of this research is to specify where and what decisions are being …

The Fat Mass And Obesity-Associated Gene (Fto): Can You Overcome Bad Genetics With Diet?, Madaline Kenyon

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene is a strong predictor of obesity in humans. The FTO SNP (rs1421085) results in a T to C nucleotide substitution that may result in an increased risk for obesity in individuals who carry at least one C allele. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if body composition alterations after a 4-week diet differed between those who carried the risky C allele versus those that did not. Thirty two exercisetrained subjects completed a 4-week hypocaloric diet (i.e., decreased energy intake by ~20% from baseline). After the …

Spero, Samantha Villarroel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

“Spero” is a short film about a woman who forgets about her passion but is reminded through her memories and finds the importance of self-happiness. The film is directed by Samantha Villarroel. Other crew members and actors include Julian Glasthal, Dekel Nahum, and Zach Matthews.

The Myth Of The Mother: Gender Stereotypes In Custody Decisions, Anna Susol

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Today, the United States custody system operates under gender-neutral policies, in which the gender of a parent may not be used as a determinant for custody. However, maternal preference, or the tendency for judges to award custody more often to mothers than fathers, is a commonplace practice in the current legal system. This study examines the history of changing custody preferences in order to understand why, in the age of gender equality, the imbalance persists. Historically, custody preferences in the legal system reflect the cultural ethos of a patriarchal society, but major shifts owing to the industrial revolution and in …

The Universal Mass Function And Its Applicability To Non-Cosmic Objects, Kyle Hansotia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The universe is full of mysteries. One of these mysteries is that all objects in the cosmos—from the smallest meteors to the largest galaxy clusters—are all connected with a single mass function. This mass function is a power law with a constant slope, f(m) = k m ^-2 where is m mass and k is a normalization constant (Binggeli & Hascher 2007, "Is there a Universal Mass Function?" Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 119, 592). This means that objects with low masses are much more common than massive objects, and that the fraction of low-to-high mass …

The Gap In Healthcare, Rea Ghodasra, Rudresh Patel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

In Hans Rosling’s Factfulness, he discusses “The Gap.” In his opinion, there is no true gap in society, but rather misconceptions. People tend to fail to recognize overlaps when comparing averages. When two averages are separated, they seem to have a big disparity, but in most cases when combined, there is little to no gap. Rosling also delves into the “extremes” of society, the rich and the poor. In most cases, the extremes of society only account for a small percentage of the population. The majority of the population is an average of both extremes, middle-class. Lastly, Rosling discusses …

The Political Reintegration Of Prominent Confederate Generals In The Us During Reconstruction (1865-1877), Steven Sigler

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Confederate statues across the South selectively honor white supremacist generals at the exclusion of those Confederates who endorsed Reconstruction. Further blurring the history of postwar Confederate loyalties, historical literature has not adequately addressed Confederate generals according to their beliefs and actions during the Reconstruction Era. Through the examination of three case studies (Generals James Longstreet, Joseph Wheeler, and Wade Hampton III), this paper identifies three unique groupings of Confederate generals. Some had a change of heart defending freedmen as Republicans, others waited patiently to join Congress as a Democrat, and a vocal majority actively rejected national politics during Reconstruction. These …

Using Caenorhabditis Elegans And An Engineered Bacterium To Dissect Host Pathogen Avoidance Strategies, Ratnavi Shah, Rachel H. Ghoubrial

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Little is known about how host-pathogen interactions determine avoidance strategies. Bacterial pathogens can infect Caenorhabditis elegans via ingestion. In its natural environment, C. elegans is attracted to bacterial food sources that produce small molecules called chemoattractants. In some instances, chemoattractant are produced by bacterial pathogens. Upon ingesting these pathogens, C. elegans can become infected, and can subsequently perish. However, through aversive learning, C. elegans can learn to associate these chemoattractants with harm. This ultimately causes the worms to avoid consuming the pathogen. Evolutionary constraints have likely shaped the interplay of the attraction and learning dynamics between pathogenic bacteria and C. …

The Current Volume 29 : Issue 27, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Com Outlook_Spring_2019, College Of Osteopathic Medicine

COM Outlook

No abstract provided.

Haitian American Women With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: An Integrative Review, Balkys L. Bivins, Indra R. Hershorin, Lonar Anthony Umadhay

Faculty Articles

Diabetes is escalating at staggering levels in the United States and worldwide. This paper will present a review of relevant literature that supports the need for research in Haitian American women, a particularly vulnerable group, with type 2 diabetes mellitus. It will also unveil the cultural factors that pose challenges to the treatment and management of this condition.

Impressions, Nova Southeastern University

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Language Experiences And Motivations Of Deaf Adolescent Latino Struggling Readers, Melissa Herzig

JADARA

Current American methods for educating Deaf adolescent Latino struggling readers need to change in order to maximize learning opportunities. This begins with identifying student strengths and building on them to help students gain new and productive skills. It is imperative to understand Deaf students’ socio-cultural backgrounds, interests, needs, and values through ethnographic research in order to identify what motivates these Latino Deaf adolescents to read. This information could guide teachers and specialists in redesigning and tailoring instruction for these students.

Nsu Sharks Rx_Spring 2019, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Sharks Rx

Volume 5, Number 1

Nsu Sharks Rx_Spring 2019, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Sharks Rx

Newsletter

Pedagogical Perspectives On Counselor Education: An Autoethnographic Experience Of Doctoral Student Development, Anna Elliott, Beronica M. Salazar, Brittany L. Dennis, Lynn Bohecker, Tiffany Nielson, Kirsten Lamantia, David M. Kleist

The Qualitative Report

There is minimal literature related to understanding what training factors contribute to the development of qualified counselor educators. Specifically, we wondered if counselor education doctoral students are effectively prepared for their roles as instructors. We chose an autoethnographic phenomenology method as a means for exploring the experiences of doctoral students’ pedagogical development in a doctoral instructional theory course. We sought to understand the essence of our experience through written reflection, photography, and group reflective processes. Analysis revealed the value we all obtained through the instructional theory course, experiential learning, and self-reflection, which contributed to increased self-efficacy as emerging counselor educators. …

Camaraderie, Collaboration, And Capacity Building: A Qualitative Examination Of School Social Workers In A Year Long Professional Learning Community, Andrew Brake, Michael S. Kelly

The Qualitative Report

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have become commonplace in K-12 schools for helping teachers collaborate to build their professional capacities and address school-based problems. However, rigorous research on the key components, mechanisms, and impact of PLCs has been limited overall, with virtually no research conducted on PLCs with school social workers (SSW). This article examines the first-year experiences of school mental health professionals (SMHP) in a two-year PLC made up largely of SSW from an array of schools and districts throughout metropolitan Chicago. Drawing on qualitative data gathered from three rounds of in-depth interviews with participants during the first year of …