Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

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% …

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.

Gleevec And The New Generation Of Molecular-Targeting Therapy, Nancy Philippe

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this literature research project is to investigate the therapeutic roles of Gleevec applied to the treatment of various cancers as a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor. In the 1970s it was shown that Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), a blood cancer, was the byproduct of translocation of the chromosome 9 q-arm (abl gene) with the chromosome 22 q-arm (bcr gene). The new gene that formed, brc-abl, was referred to as the Philadelphia gene (Ph). The abnormal protein that forms from Ph gene, BCR-ABL, is what causes CML. BRC-ABL was shown to be a tyrosine kinase. With this knowledge, …

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 …

Critique Of President Bush’S 2004 Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, Marissa S. Dass

Undergraduate Student Symposium

After having done extensive and comprehensive research into a variety of President George W. Bush speeches, I was intrigued by Bush’s Presidential Nomination Acceptance speech that he gave during the Republican National Convention in New York City. The speech marked Bush’s acceptance as the 2004 Republican Party’s presidential candidate. Bush gave his speech on Thursday September 2^nd 2004 to an immediate audience of well over twelve thousand people in Madison Square Garden. However, other audiences were targeted, including all of the American public, more specifically the undecided American voters, and the rest of the world.

My research included first …

All About Obesity: A Cost/Benefit Analysis Of The Growth, Causes, And Effects Of Obesity, Stephanie Repaci

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The topic of this paper is obesity and the numerous surgeries used to “cure” it. Because obesity is an ever-increasing problem in the United States, physicians have developed many different ways for people to lose excess weight. As cases of obesity escalate annually, surgery is becoming the number one way to correct it. Since weight-loss surgery is increasing just as much as obesity is, problems associated with obesity continually skyrocket.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how obesity is affecting the economy of the United States. By looking into the past and present of obesity, it is easy …

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. …

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.

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.

Spanish Class Play, Nika Ferdowsi, Sheree Leger, Tatiana Fabricio, Danielle Garcia, Taylor Liput, Diane Klein, Juliet Tamez, Keith Dixon

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A spanglish motivated play that will have a humorous as well as a critical taste to obesity. The setting of the play will be an exercise class, and the protagonists will be the obese.

Spanish Play, Medha Gandhi, Keith Dixon, Megan Chin

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Bilingual Presentation

Introspective Narcissist, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Through the heavy use of descriptions this story traces the internal conflict of a concerned protagonist. Self-discovery and realization are themes throughout. Attempted withdrawal from society and the creation of a self pariah based on sever disillusionment strike the antagonist and the protagonist expressed concern. Resolution occurs in an unexpected fashion at the story’s close.

Depth Of A Darkened Soul, Earl Tinsley

Undergraduate Student Symposium

This poetic piece describes the feelings and actions associated with one of the most challenging emotions in any human beings’ life - loneliness. This selection goes into great detail about the epicenter of the author’s loneliness and how it takes the joy out of commitments that are otherwise maintained to occupy time not spent wallowing in their own self despair. It also explains how this feeling of loneliness takes over your overall demeanor, distorting your eyes, your voice, your mind and your very soul. Like the selection reads, “Loneliness is a reality that grows and increases with age.” In fact, …

The Roaring Twenties?, Tahira Omphroy

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The “roaring twenties” is remembered as an era of good times and prosperity. While this is true, there were serious problems under the surface. Prohibition, an attempt to end vice in society, led to the rise of organized crime in America. The National Origins Act of 1924 sought to curb immigration trends and further Nativist attitudes. Both actions served as a contrast to the positive feeling of the 1920s.

“The Glamorous Humanitarian” Ad The First-Lady Of Camelot Princess Diana And Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: Larger Than Life, Female Media Icons, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Four journalism greats who were up and coming during the lives of the two 20^th century great female media icons came to speak about how capturing them in print and on film captivated the world’s literate population. The evening was spent in regards to the definition of the icon that these women were and how they achieved iconographic status and the media role in that achievement. The panel furnished their knowledge of the inner workings of the media and their experiences with these women as a base for female use of the media.

Nova Southeastern University’S Women’S Basketball, Danielle Garcia

Undergraduate Student Symposium

A newspaper article covering the performance of NSU's Women's Basketball team at their home tournament. Pictures included mirror the article as it explains the team's two performances and the selected All-Tournament team which included NSU's own Stacey Gaeth. The article allows the reader to envision the two games played by the Knights with play action and supportive statistics.

Black Brother, Angela Cuyugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Black brother, love me so tenderly.

         Feel you running thru my veins, pooling with joy.

I’m at natural state when I’m with you.

          Incomparable to those brighter shades of the rainbow.

Black brother, deep as the ocean runs, strong as a lion, swift like the cheetah, graceful as crane, witty like that of the feline, loyal to woman as her heart will allow, and beautifully structured in every way God’s blessed you.

The Use Of Biomarkers In Diagnosis And Treatment Of Traumatic Brain Injury, Claudia X. Cortes

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major central nervous system (CNS) disorder. The most frequent indicators of TBI are magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT) scans, which are highly expensive, and their sensitivity is limited to the first 24 hours after injury. There is a substantial need for finding other reliable methods including the development of biomarkers to assess the condition of brain cells after presumed injury. Biomarkers are correlated with disease severity, time course of disease progression and drug response. This literature review focuses on four different types of biomarkers –Serum S100B, II-spectrin Breakdown Products, Serum T^{c …}

Tgf-β Signaling And Oncogenesis, Nika Ferdowsi

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The objective of this literature-based investigation is to review the current model used to describe how TGF-β signaling is involved in the oncogenic process. The transforming growth factors-β are a group of signaling polypeptides that control cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis. TGF-βs and their receptors are expressed in virtually all tissues. TGF-β works as tumor suppressor in pre and early oncogenic stages. However, as tumor growth progresses, TGF-β switches to pro-oncogenic activities. TGF-β type proteins work via a signal transduction pathway that involves the activation of key proteins known as Smads. Smads are directly involved in transcription by entering the …

Social Perceptions Of Jealousy In Relationships Over Time, Crystal Carrio, Jaclyn Mombrea, Ed Vargas, Rudy Brown

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The proposed research investigates people’s opinions regarding emotional aspects of jealousy in a relationship over time. Previous research has established that young men are more focused on the sexual aspects of a relationship than young women (Buss & Kanrick, 1998; Eagly & Wood, 1999). More specifically, men tend to be more jealous when their spouses have sexual affairs with other men, whereas women tend to be more jealous when their spouses have emotional affairs with other women. The present study extends these initial findings by looking at how elderly people experience jealousy in a relationship. We surveyed 206 people on …

Application Of Culture Manipulation To Investigate Life Histories, Diversity And Ubiquity Of Naked Amoebae From Mangroves, Justine Ben-Hain, Sophie Buzgon, Tatianna Vassilopoulos

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Three high school students from the University School of NSU manipulated cultures of mangrove amoebae to investigate the hypothesis that naked filose amoebae are actually stages in the life cycle of dinoflagellates. As these protists have been implicated in harmful algal blooms, any new information concerning their life histories would help to develop successful models for predicting bloom events. Additional objectives of the culture manipulation trials include the identification of emerging species, naming and describing of novel species, and enumeration of the diversity of species found under a variety of culture conditions. This final aspect addresses the hypothesis that most, …

The Power Of The Written Word, Alaina Siminovsky

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Two great American authors, John Steinbeck and Herman Melville, both wrote pieces regarding those with defective mental faculties. In addition, these characters were giants, strong and hard working. This compensation was to show society’s treatment of these people. We often judge based on actions alone and not on person. These two giants committed crimes, but not of their own true doing. Either manipulation or the sheer failure to know one’s own strength caused each to falter, committing the greatest crime: murder. How to treat these criminals was the central question of each tale. In Of Mice and Men you pity …

Hay No!!!, Victoria Drescher

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Coming to Florida,

Yo no creo que almost

Todas las personas

Hablan espanol.

In my native country Austria,

Die mehrzahl der Leute spricht

Obviously deutsch.

Over here in southern florida,

Especialmente en Weston,

Donde I have muchos amigos,

It is almost impossible

To comprende something,

If you don’t habla espanol.

Different Approaches To A Moral Dilemma, Nancy Philippe

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this philosophical analysis was to demonstrate some of the different viewpoints that can be used to evaluate a moral dilemma. The moral dilemma discussed in this paper involves keeping a promise. Jeffrey, best friend and cousin of Elijah, made a promise to Elijah to keep to a certain piece of information confidential, which went against his beliefs and values. Jeffrey was faced with a problem that seems to have only two options: breaking the promise and doing what was right, or keeping the promise and ultimately his cousin’s friendship. In discussing these two options that Jeffrey had, …