Digital Commons Network^™

Nothing More Powerful Than Love, Corynne Dignan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The unquestionable power love has over all things is illuminated in early world literature. Emotional control is lost as characters misbehave under the domination of love. In the story of Ceres and Proserpina from Ovid's Metamorphoses, the cravings of love instilled by Cupid make individuals act selfishly and out of character to fulfill their passion, going to any lengths to accomplish their desires. Both maternal and romantic love instill a form of madness that causes characters to harm others. Still, stories such as those in Metamorphoses offer reassurance that powerful emotion endures, even in a contemporary world that privileges …

Metagenomic Analysis To Determine Habitat And Abundance Of Helicosporidium, Christian Benitez, Alyssa Fernandez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Helicosporidium are parasitic, non-photosynthetic green algae shown to have potential in providing biological control against mosquito larvae. By determining where Helicosporidium resides, this organism can be more abundantly studied to gain a better understanding of its life cycle, transmission, and potential effects as biological control agents. Therefore, the isolation and study of Helicosporidium shows promise in the fields of biology and environmental science. In this research project, environmental water samples were obtained and analyzed to determine if any Helicosporidium inhabited the sample. Using a metagenomics approach, DNA extraction of all the microorganisms residing in the water samples were conducted followed …

Melanoma Increase/Decrease Among Floridians In Years 2000 And 2008, Lindsay Frady

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Melanoma is a cancer that affects over 32,000 new individuals per year. Melanoma is a cancer that is within the melanocytes, under the skin, that produce and move the pigment of melanin. Melanin is an especially important pigment because of the protection it provides the human skin. Of the skin cancers that are present within the population, Melanoma accounts for only about five percent, but it is responsible for seventy-five percent of all skin cancer fatalities. In this project, statistical techniques are used to study if there is any change in the number of skin cancer among different age groups …

Implementation Of Open Source Web Service Environment Software Appliance, Carolina Usbeck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Modern software installations are complex. They require many independent "web services" and applications that usually run on many different machines to work together and collaborate. In the past implementing such an environment was time consuming and took many weeks to implement and test such an application. In this project we showed that the implementation times could be reduced significantly to just a few hours, by using virtualization, by testing the installation on a single machine that has many virtual machines running. Once the installation has been tested, it can be deployed rapidly in the real environment on multiple machines.

Health Care Delivery Systems: A Comparison Of Today’S Health Care Delivery Systems Between The U.S.A And Austria, Carlos Haderspock

Undergraduate Student Symposium

According to the 2000 World Health Organization report on comparing the health care systems, Austria with a population of 8,316,487, is ranked 9^th in overall health system performance ^{[4] [6]}. The United States of America, on the other hand, with a population of 305,012,000 is ranked 37^th in overall health system performance ^{[4] [5]}. The main criteria upon which the member countries were ranked upon were good health, responsiveness and fairness in financing ^[2]. A country is first considered to have a good health care system, when its health care status is as positive as …

Hand Hygiene, Ryan Bhagwandin, Akash Patel, Zil Patel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this project was to determine if the NSU community on main campus displayed proper hand washing techniques. The observations were conducted in the University Center and Parker building restrooms at the main campus of Nova Southeastern University. Over 35 days a total of 149 individuals were observed. Surprisingly, a total of 29% of those observed did not wash their hands at all. Of those who did wash their hands only 73% used a disinfectant. There were also gender differences in hand washing techniques. Eighty-five percent of all males washed their hands and of those 80% used a …

A Study Of Lifespan In The United States, Jacqueline Carrion

Undergraduate Student Symposium

In this project, a regression analysis study is conducted to see if the average lifespan (LIFE) in the United States is related to the following six characteristics: MALE, the ratio of male to female in percentage, BIRTH, the birth rate per 1000 population, DIVORCE, the divorce rate per 1000 population, BEDS, the hospital beds per 100,000 population, EDUCATION, the percentage of population 25 years or older having completed 16 years of school, and INCOME, the per capita income. In this study, the outliers and the influential observations will be identified by looking at various statistics, such as RESIDUAL, STUDENTIZED RESIDUALS, …

Identification Of Natural Extracts That Function As Ultraviolet Light Blocking Agents, Michelle Mi-Le Kim

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Cosmetic products such as moisturizers, shampoos, make-up, colognes and many others became part of our daily grooming habits. The American Academy of Dermatology reports the average adults use at least seven different cosmetic products each day. As more people use cosmetics, chemical ingredients included in those products are causing more allergic reactions and side effects. Sun block is essential for everyone from infants to elders. It is applied directly onto skin in order to block the harmful effects of UV light; however, many of its ingredients are chemicals that can harm the environment and cause skin irritation in sensitive individuals. …

Gender Differences In The Perception Of Homosexual And Heterosexual Men, Randy Denis

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Some homosexual men continue to face various challenges in their task to diminish prejudicial beliefs and attitudes (Berkman & Zingberg, 1997). In comparison to heterosexual women, the literature depicts heterosexual men as having more negative views of homosexual men (Herek, 1998). A total of 26 heterosexual participants (11 men, 15 women) viewed profiles of three target males who were described as being in either a heterosexual or homosexual relationship. Participants subsequently rated each target on a variety of social and personality characteristics, including willingness to work, likability, and confidence. Preliminary results suggest heterosexual men, in comparison to heterosexual women, perceived …

Examining Adhesion Of Lysozyme And Transferrin To Omafilcon A Contact Lenses, Neena Chandrasekaran, Shan Desai, Darshan Solanki

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Contact lenses induce the formation of human tears, which contain approximately 60 different proteins, when worn on the naked eye. We examined the adhesion of human transferrin to FDA Group II Omafilcon A contact lenses, fabricated from a biomimetic material whose interaction with tear proteins is not well understood. Furthermore, the consequences of protein accumulation are uncertain. Experimental procedure included incubation of Omafilcon A lenses in human transferrin for five days. Protein adhesion was determined by bicinchoninic acid colorimetry on a daily basis through spectrophotometry. As a result, transferrin adhered to the Omafilcon A lenses to a lesser extent (~10%) …

Coral Cover Of Diaseris Distorta And Porites Sverdrupi At Isla Catalana, Gulf Of California, Mary Crider

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Diaseris distorta is a free-living, solitary fungiid coral that mostly inhabits sand or mud habitats surrounding coral reefs. It is distributed throughout the tropical waters of the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. Data on this species' population densityand surface area was collected at its northern-most limit of distribution in the Eastern Pacific off the coast of Isla Catalana in the Gulf of California. Thirty randomly located 0.25m² photo quadrats (7.5m² total area) were analyzed using CPCe software. The mean surface area of Diaseris distorta was 1.6cm² ± 0.4 s.d. per individual, and the mean number …

Bending Under Pressure: "In-Vision" It’S Plain To See, Megan Oswald

Undergraduate Student Symposium

"It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see." –Henry David Thoreau

Vision is key to the human experience. It is often the first sensation received for environmental navigation. While to the average eye images may be clear, ocular disorders can distort their production, making the study on ocular disorders essential. Glaucoma is characterized by damage to the optic nerve due to excessively high intraocular pressure (IOP). It is assumed that IOP is uniform throughout the eye. Therefore we can link glaucoma to the deformations of the cornea, which is the oculardisorder of astigmatism inhibiting …

An Examination Of The Specific Functions Of Three Cancer Drugs (Methotrexate, Fluorouracil, And Taxol) And Their Expected Effects On Gene Expression, Neena Chandrasekaran

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Cancer is a term used to define many diseases in which a group of cells exhibit uncontrolled growth, invasion, and sometimes metastasis. In this literature review project, the mechanisms of action for three drugs used to treat cancer by inhibiting cell division: Ledertrexate (methotrexate), Fluorouracil (adrucil), and Paclitaxel (taxol) are examined. Methotrexate inhibits an enzyme called dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) that catalyses the conversion of dihydrofolate to folic acid, needed for the synthesis of the nucleoside thymidine, and also purines which are required for DNA synthesis. Fluorouracil functions as a thymidylate synthase inhibitor by stopping the synthesis of the pyrimidine, thymidine, …

Reading The Pattern In "The Yellow Wallpaper", Sarah Silverstein

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This paper is a literary analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman‘s short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper." In the story the unnamed protagonist is diagnosed with a "nervous disease" and confined to a nursery/bedroom in "ancestral halls" (253). Ironically, it is through this nursery that serves as a prison cell for the captive and ill woman that she finds her voice and her freedom. This paper examines the symbolic devices and imagery that reflect her struggle and provide an escape route for women confined to an oppressive child-like status. Her diary entries are the mechanism whereby she records her observations and examines …

Dizzying Duplicity: Women's Dance Of Discord, Amanda Allen Thompson

Undergraduate Student Symposium

An examination of Dorothy Parker's "The Waltz" and Tillie Olsen's "Tell Me a Riddle " reveals a telling commonality: the cyclical redundancy that characterizes women's lives in early to mid-period twentieth century America.. Dorothy Parker's piece is an amusing allegorical short story in which the protagonist finds herself dancing with a partner with whom she secretly would prefer not to dance. However, such an option is unavailable to women in polite society. Parker's narrator/protagonist is internally impudent but externally compliant as her rebellion eventually dissipates and she dances her life and her autonomy away. Olson‘s "Tell Me a Riddle" tells …

Comparisons Of Nearshore Artificial And Natural Reef Fish Assemblages In Southeast Florida Using Three Visual Census Methods With Snorkel Gear, Benedict Z. Choi, Kelly Kostner, Tandace L. Burkhart

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The nearshore environment of Broward and Palm Beach counties are characterized by the presence of both natural and artificial reefs. The natural reef area surveyed in this experiment is located in northern Broward County just south of Commercial Blvd. The natural reef is a composed of a mix of hardbottom and sabellarid worm rock habitats. The artificial reef surveyed in this experiment is located in southern Palm Beach County, immediately south of Boca Raton Inlet. This reef consists of large, concrete boulders scattered over an area of a tenth of a mile. The two goals of this study were to …

Cultural Diversity, Erica Falk

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A collaboration of a myriad of short poetry on the beautiful surroundings of cultural diversity will be discussed and further articulated. The style will be written in couplet format and have an appropriate ab rhyme scheme. It will also introduce the wonderful work of artists both painters and writers who utilized cultural diversity in the theme of their work. Cultural diversity is a prominent issue in the twenty-first century and has become a critical issue of our nation. The luxury and great appreciation of diverse multitudes of race, religion, and ethnicity help to paint a world full of vibrant colors. …

Data Networking Lab Implementation Using Virtualization, Carolina Usbeck

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Conventional computer laboratory is expensive and it requires expensive cabling and routers to set up. It also requires careful hardware planning and implementation that can take weeks to implement. We are demonstrating an implementation of a computer- networking laboratory on a single machine that each student can implement on his or her own machine using virtualization. The laboratory is tested with sample networking experiments. The laboratory will be delivered as a software appliance that can be made available to all students in taking computer-networking courses. The implementation is done using completely free or open source software packages.

The World Ages In Myth And Science, Trevor Borg

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The concept that time is cyclical in nature pervades the beliefs of most cultures worldwide. Even those cultures who believe there is a definite beginning and apocalyptic end to the universe believe in a rebirth of some sort. Many cultures that lack even this belief have some notion of the "fall of man." This notion of an idyllic "golden age" in the past usually holds that humans in the remote past lived longer and more peacefully. Through successive ages, each worse than the last, humans have sunk to their present state. Eventually, humans may rise again to attain the golden …

The Effects Of Mood Manipulation On The Recall Of Neutral Stimulus, Cody Potter

Undergraduate Student Symposium

According to research by Clark and Teasdale (1985), an individual's mood has a strong influence on memory of past events. Other studies have found that the experimental manipulation of mood via hypnosis (Bower, Monteiro & Gilligan, 1987) and music (Kihlstrom & Miranda, 2005,) affects memory, such that positive mood is more conducive to memory than negative mood. In the present research, I propose to test the effect of an experimental mood manipulation on recall of a neutral stimulus. Thirty participants will read a short emotionally neutral passage, after which they will be randomly assigned to watch either a happy or …

The Effects Of Laughter On Attention, Sabrina Smith

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Laughter is a fundamental element of human behavior. Although numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of laughter, the effect of laughter on attention is currently unknown. Attentional resources are required to provoke the reaction of laughter, therefore, in instances where a cognitive task occurs in parallel with humorous stimuli (i.e. attention is dually allocated), there is potentially a competition for attentional resources. This competition may result in reduced cognitive abilities during laughter. This study will utilize brain electroencephalographic (EEG) event related potentials (ERPs) to measure attentional processing during concomitant humorous exposure or nonhumorous exposure. Specifically, we will utilize two videos …

Social Support And Psychosocial Health Among Hiv-Seropositive Individuals, Lydia Malcolm, Maria Marcoulli, Dyona Augustin, Vera Lopez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Existing literature has documented a positive correlation between social support and adjustment to illness among HIV/AIDS. However, there is limited research focusing exclusively on the influence of family support on psychosocial health in this population. This study sought to examine the influence of family support on psychosocial health among substance users with HIV/AIDS. Thirty-one African-American HIV-positive substance users (M ± SD age = 41 ± 8; 55% women) were recruited from clinics. Demographic, psychosocial, and behavioral data were collected via face-to-face interviews. The independent variable was family support. The dependent variables were HIV/AIDS knowledge, HIV attitude, HIV related physical …

Powering Up A Detergent For The Modern Industrial Sector, Ivana Gagula, Jeff Hsu, Arash Nasajpour, Darshan Solanki

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The chemistry of soaps and detergents was examined to assess the extent of their applicability in the industrial sector. Soaps become less effective in hard water as the higher solute ions interfere with intermolecular forces between soap and water. Detergents, as an alternative to soaps, act as a surfactant to facilitate the cohesive hydrogen bonding of water molecules into an adhesive force on surface abrasions. Chemical analysis of soaps and detergents may yield a new type of compound that is highly effective in cleaning industrial residue. An ideal detergent for cleaning sludge off of industrial machines was devised.

Mechanisms Of Vancomycin Resistance In Mixed Species Biofilms, Lina Alsad, Leslie Nevarez

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The studies conducted are aimed at determining the interactions between Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus in a mixed biofilm. Microbes generally prefer to grow as part of a biofilm, as opposed to individual planktonic cells, in order to communicate, share nutrients, and gain protection from environmental stresses. The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and the fungus Candida albicans are the most common microbes found to grow within biofilms in humans and are among the leading causes of infectious disease. Previous research in our lab has indicated that S. aureus is less susceptible to the antibiotic vancomycin when grown in a mixed biofilm. …

Lament, Michael Mcgregor

Undergraduate Student Symposium

"Lament" is a story of one brother's journey to grow and let go of a battle between him and his brother. After he discovers the passing of his brother, he begins to look back at their relationship. It's a story that shows that family is stronger than anything, and although his older brother is homosexual, it doesn't change the fact that they are brothers. The film is directed by Mike McGregor. Other crew members include Philip Ortiz and Adam Walters.

Idiopathic Ankle Pain: A Case Of Uncharacteristic Paresthesia, Katie Crowley

Undergraduate Student Symposium

An anomalous disorder that is often misdiagnosed is Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CPRS). CPRS has two classifications (Type I & II) and is generally characterized by a combination of sensory, autonomic, trophic, and motor signs and symptoms. The most common ones include: severe pain that is disproportionate to the cause, joint stiffness, abnormal skin appearance, swelling, muscle weakness, and changes in sweating. This condition is most typically seen in the shoulder and ankle. The literature review demonstrated that there is no definite testing that can be done to diagnose this condition. In 1994 the International Association for the Study of …

From Failed Unity To Long-Term Division: The Impact Of Nineteenth-Century French Diplomacy On Haitian-Dominican Relations, Geneviève Chantal Volcy Céant

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are sometimes referred to as two wings of the same bird. However, to Dominicans the island is Quisqueya while Haitians refer to it as Hispaniola. This distinction offers a symbolic illustration of their opposing attitudes, which are usually explained as cultural differences. In this paper, I take into consideration the historical roots of these difficulties and in particular the role of France during the post-colonial era. French diplomats invested in and exploited the island's political instability, driving the two populations apart. The research presented in this paper addresses the negative impact of nineteenth-century French diplomacy …

A Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet As An Alternative Therapy For Autism And Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Literature Review, Christie Rubio

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Autism is a disorder of social interaction and communication. It is a collection of behavioral symptoms causing the person to be easily disturbed by a lack of routine and organization of daily activities. The disorder becomes apparent within the first three years of life. Though the cause of the disorder is unknown, there has been feverish research to determine the cause and develop a treatment. Several clinical studies have found that children with autism have a range of gastrointestinal symptoms including inflammation, decreased digestive enzyme activity and permeability of the intestines to pathologies. Children with autism also have abnormal levels …

Tax Havens: The Art Of Avoidance, Michael Rasmussen, Ryan Nicol

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Tax Havens: The Art of Avoidance is a symposium based on the essay: "Evasive Maneuvers: Tax Havens, Tax Evasion, Tax Avoidance, and the Future of Tax Law in America." Rarely do intriguing or titillating issues of tax law present themselves and tax havens are no exception. This symposium looks to change this perception; tax havens are interesting! The symposium has two objectives (1) discuss and define what tax havens are and (2) illustrate the struggle the United States has in dealing with them.

Surface Bacteria Distribution On Campus And The Potential Health Impacts Of Exposure, Rachel Sewnarine, Yusra Quadri, Sonya Chacko

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Have you ever wondered what's in the air we breathe, on the tables we touch or on the things that help keep us clean? A previous pilot study conducted last year at NSU provided a glimpse into the presence of bacteria on campus. The goal of this study was to provide additional data on this important topic by increasing the number of sites sampled, the total number of replicates, as well as provide insight into the types of bacteria that are sampled. Gram staining procedures, as well as specific identification kits are planned on pure bacterial cultures to aid in …